The Vijayanagar Empire Chronicles Of Paes And Nuniz

1 HE V , JAYANAGAR EMPIRE

• S IK< ) si ICJLES OF PAES AND NUNIZ

ROBERT SEWELL

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE (VIJAYANAGAR)

CONTENTS

HISTORY

CHAFI'ER I TO XVH

THE CHRONICLES
, INDEX

PP 1-234

PP 235-41 1

PP 413-427

ALSO AVAILABLE

Rs.

LONGHURST A.H, : Harnpi Ruins - Descnhed and Illustrated

F.B. 35

VENKATA . Vijayanagar: Origin of the City and

RAMANAYYA N, the Empire

KRISHNASWAMI S. : South India and her Muhammadan

t20

* AIYANGAR Invaders

165

THE VIJAYANAGAR EMPIRE

CHRONICLES OF PAES AND NUNIZ

NARRATIVE OF DOMINGOS PAES

(WRITTEN.PROBABLY A.D. 1520-22)

OF THE THINGS WHICH I SAW AND CONTRIVED
TO LEARN CONCERNING THE KINGDOM
OF NARSIMGA, ETC.

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

(WRITTEN, PROBABLY, A.D. 1535-37)

ASIAN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
NEW DELHI ★ MADRAS ★ 1991

CHRONICLES OF PAES AND NUNIZ

LETTER

(? TO THE HISTORIAN BaRROS) WHICH ACCOMPANIED THE CHRO-
NICLES WHEN SENT FROM INDIA TO PORTUGAL
ABOUT THE YEAR 1537 A.D.

Since I have lived till now in this city (? Goa), it
seemed necessary to do what your Honour desired of
me, namely, to search for men who had formerly been
in Elsnaga ; for I know that no one goes there without
bringing away his quire of paper written about its afiiairs.
Xhus I obtained this summary from one Domingos Paes,
who goes there, and who was at Bisnagfa in the time of
CrisnarSo when Cristov3.o de Figueiredo was there. I
obtained another from FernSo Nuniz, who was there
three years trading in horses (which did not prove
remunerative). Since one man cannot tell everything —
one relating some things which another does not — I send
both the summaries made by them, namely, one in the
time of CrisnarSo, as I have said, and the other sent from
there six months since. I desire to do this because your
honour can gather what is useful to you from both, and
because you will thus give the more credit to some things
in the chronicle of the kings of Bisnaga, since they con-
form one to the other. The copy of the summary which
!*e began to make ^ when he first went to the kingdom of
Bisnaga is as follows : —

NARRATIVE OF DOMINGOS I^AES

(WRITTEN TROBABLY A.X). 1520-21)

OF THE THINGS WHICH I SAW ANI> CONTRIVED
TO LEARN CONCERNING THE KINGDOM
OF NARSIMGA, Etc.*

On leaving India’ to travel towards the kingdom of
Narsymga from the sea-coast, you have (first) to pass a
range of hills {se-rr-a), the botindary of the said kingdom
and of those territories which are by the sea. This
serra runs along the whole of the coast of India, and
has passes by which people enter the interior ; for ail
the rest of the range is very rocky and is filled with
thick forest. The said kingdom has many places on
the coast of India ; they are seaports with which we are
at peace, and in some of them we have factories, namely,
Amcola, Mirgeo, Honor, Batecalla. Mamgalor, Bracalor,
and Bacanor. And as soon as we are above this sarra
we have a plain country in which there are no more
ranges of hills, but only a few mountains, and thes^ small
ones; for all the rest is like the plains of Ssantartm.* Only
on the road from Batecala * to a town called

* Tbe ** of Narsinga.” is the zuuxie often ^iven the Portn^tiese

and others to Vijayanagar*.

* The term here is limited to the stnair territory of Portuguese India
immediately rotntd the city of Goa. Thus Linschoten (A.»- 1583) wrot%
*'‘At the end of Cambaya beginneth Indim nmut the lands of Deewert and
Omcam,’* meaning the* immediately south of the territories of Cambair
ht^g;an those of ^’ortngnese India, while other countries on the border were
tibe Pakhan and the Konkan.

* In.PorutgaL

* This was ajppauwtiy the tisttal roote fbr trerelSess ftrona the ocmum tn

Viyayahagar. Fr. X.wb owed it for Ms £pom Cochin to ttw capiftal to

p,, iisijp ilfCMWjb

NARRATIVE OF PAES

237

there arc some ranges with forests ; nevertheless the
road is very even. From Batecala to this town of
Zambur ^ is forty leagues ; the road has many streams
of water by its side, and because of this so much
merchandise flows to Batecala that every year there
come five or six thousand pack-oxen.

Now to tell of the aforesaid kingdom- It is a
country sparsely wooded except along this ser-ra on the
east,*' but in places you walk for two or three leagues
under groves of trees ; and behind cities and towns and
villages they have plantations of mangoes, and jack-fruit
trees, and tamarinds and other very large trees, which
form resting-places where merchants halt with their
merchandise. I saw in the city of Recalem * a tree
under which we lodged three hundred and twenty horses,
standing in order as in their stables, and all over the
country you may see many small trees. These dominions
are very well cultivated and very fertile, and are pro-
vided with quantities of cattle, such as cows, buffaloes,
and sheep ; also of birds, both those belonging to the
hills and those reared at home, and this in greater
abundance than in our tracts. The land has plenty of
rice and Indian-corn, grains, beans, and other kind of
crops which are not sown in our parts ; also an infinity
of cotton- Of the grains there is a great quantity,
because, besides being used as food for men, it is also
used for horses, since there is no other kind of barley ;
and this country has also much wheat, and that- good.
The whole country is thickly populated with cities and
towns and villages ; the king allows them to be sur-
rounded only with earthen walls for fear of their be-
coming too strong. But if a city i^ situated at the

* Probably SandOr, about 120 miles from the coast at BhatkaL Sanddr
is a small Mahratta state 25 miles from Vijayanagar.

* That is, on the cast of Portuguese India, west of the territory of
Vijayanagar,

» Unidentified* The great tree was of course a banyan.

238 A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

extremity of his territory he gives his consent to its
having stone walls, but never the towns ; so that they
may make fortresses of the cities but not of the towns.

And because this country is all Hat, the winds blow
here more than in other parts. The oil which it pro-
duces comes from seeds sown and afterwards reaped,
and they obtain it by means of machines wliich they
make. This country wants ^\ater because it is very
great and has few streams • the> make lakes in which
water collects when it rains, and thereby they maintain
themselves. They maintain themselves by means of
some in which there are springs better than by others
that have only the water from rain ; for we fin<l many
quite dry, so that people go about walking in their betls,
and dig holes to try and find enough water, t!ven a little,
for their maintenance. The failure of the water is be-
cause they have no winter, as in our parts anu Itx
(Portuguese) India, but only thunder-storms that are
greater in one year than in another. The water in
these lakes is for the most part muddy, especially in
those where there are no springs, and the reason why
it is so muddy is because of the strong wind and the
dust that is in this country, which never allows the
water to be clear ; and al.so because of the numbers of
cattle, buffaloes, cows, o.xen, and other small cattle that
drink in them. Foi yem must know that in this land
they do not slaughter oxen or cows ; the oxen are beasts
of burden and are like sumpter-mules ; these carry all
their goods. They worship the cows, and have them
in their pagodas made in stone, and also bulls ; they
have many bulls that they present to these pagodas,
and these bulls go about the city without any one causing
them any harm or loss. Further, there are asses in
this country, but they are small, and they use them only
for little things ; those that wash clothes lay the cloths
on them, and use them for this more than for anything

NARJflATIVE or PAES

239

else. You must know that this kingdom of Narsymga
has three hundred g^raos of coast, each grao being- a
league, along the hill-range {serTo) of which I have
spoken, until you arrive at Ballagate and .Charamaodel,^
which belong to this kingdom ; and in breadth it is one
hundred and sX-xX-y -inur graos ; each ]a.rgG gr^ao measures
two of our leagues, so that it has six hundred leagues of
coast, and across it three hundred and forty-eight leagues
. . . across from Batacalla to the kingdom of Orya.~

And this kingdom marches ^ with all the territory
of Bengal, and on the other side with the kingdom of
Orya, which is to the east, and on the other side to the
north with the kingdom of Dakhan, belonging to which
are the lands which the Ydallcao* ** has, and Ozemelluco.®
Cioa is at war with this Ydallcao, because that city was
his, and we have taken it from him.

And this khigdom of Orya, of which I have spoken
above, is said to be much larger than the kingdom of
Nar.symga, since it mitrehes with all Bengal, and is at
war with her ; and it marches with all the kingdom of
Pegu and with the 3fallaca Sea. It reaches to the
kingdom of Cambaya, and to the kingdom of Dakhan ;
and they told me with positive certainty that it extends

* Coromandel. This name was applie*d by the PortU|4Uc*s(‘ to the Hastern
Tamil and Stailhern 'IVluga cotmtues. It had no well defined limits, and
often was held to extexid even as lar nortn as to the Kiishna river, or
even to Ofissa. Yule and Burnell adhere to the now gcmeially received
definition of the name from the countiy of the Cholas

(Glossary, s.%*. Coromandel)-

^ Orissa.

^ CiWif/iits/a com is evidently an exrm for tonj^na com. The fc»ame word
is used three times in the next paraKraph.

^ The Add KhAn, Sultan of l^ijapitn The name is sometimes written
by the Portuguese Idaixa (va for We havegnuniberless spellings in

the old chronicles, thus, Adedtitm^

^ For Nissam-uI-Mulkh, or the Ni/Ain Shah, the Sultan of Ahmadnag:ar*
Similarly the Qutb Shilb of <.#olkorula is called in these hro Aides Cota-
maluco.'* The !mdd Sh^h of Bmir is called the Imadeinaluco,” or even

** Mad rent aluco/^ by the Dutch (Lmschoten) and Portuguese. The Barid
Shm of Eldar is styled Mehque Verido.”

240

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

as far as Persia. The population thereof is light coloured,
and the men are of good physique. Its king has much
treasure and many soldiers and many elephants, for
there are numbers of these in this country. (My in-
formants) know this well, and they say that there is no
ruler greater than he. He is a heath en-

Coming back to our subject, I say that I will not
mention here the situation of the cities, and tcjwn.s, and
villages in this kingdom of Narsymga, to avoid pro-
lixity ; only I shall speak of the city of iJarcha,^ which
has a monument such as can seldom be seen els<,;wht;rt;.
This city of IJarcha i.s v’ery' well fortified by a wall, tliough
not of stone, fur the reason that I have alreatly stated.
On the western side, which is to w'ar< Is (Portuguese) Intiia,
it is surrounded by a very beautiful river, and on the
other, eastern side the int<irior of the country is all one
plain, and along the wall is its moat. This Harcha has
a pagoda, which is the monument I speak of, so btjauti-
ful that another as good of its kind could not be found
within a great distance. You must know that it is a
round temple made of a single stone, the gateway all in
the manner of joiners' work, with every art of perspee-
ti\'e. There are many figures of the said work, standing
out as much as a cubit from the stone, so that you st!e
on every side of them, so w’ell carved that they could
not be better done — the faces as well as all the rest ; and
each one in its place stands as if embowered in k;aves ;
and above it is in the Romanesejut* style, so well made
that it could not be belter, Be.sides this, it has a sort
of lesser porch upon pillars, all of stone, and the pillars

* The spellinf- of th ' name in the original very doabtfni. First it reads

un the next oc^'asion il is undoubtediy ThejEhird mriUiiin

of the place calls n But in each case the r is not very clean

might be an i undotted* Moreover, the c may jmssibly lie an and the
name may be Are/m or If we should accept the latter, we may

identify it with I>hdrwdr, and believe it to be the ms the of

Nuniz (below* p* 292X

NARRATIl^E OR RAES

241

with their pedestals ^ so well executed that they appear
as if made in Italy ; all the cross pieces and beams are of
the same stone without any planks or timber being- used
in it, and in the same way all the ground is laid with
the same stone, outside as well as in. And all this
pagf>da, as far round as the temple goes, is enclosed by a
trelli.s made; of the same stone, and this again is com-
pletely surrounded by a very strong wall, better even
than the city has, since it is all of solid masonry. It has
three entrance gates, which gates are very large and
beautiful, and the entrance from one of these sides, being
towards the east and facing the door of the pagoda, has
some structures like verandahs, small and low, where sit
some Jog-is ; ~ and inside this enclosure, which has other
little pagodas of a reddish colour, there is a stone like
the mast of a ship, with its pedestal four-sided, and from
thence to the top eight-sided, .standing in the open air.
I was not astonished at it, because I have seen the needle
of St. Peter’s at Rome, which is as high, or more.*

These pagodas are buildings in which they pray and
have their idols; the idols are of maity sorts, i-jamely, figures
of men and women, of bulls, and apes, while others have
nothing but a round stone which they v/orship. In this
temple of Darcha is an idol in the figure of a man as to
his body, and the face is that of an elephant with trunk
and tusks,' and with three arms on each side and six
hands, of which arms they say that already four are
gone, and when all fall then the world will be destroyed
they are full of belief that this will be, and hold it as a
prophecy. They feed the idol every day, for they say
that he eats ; and when he eats women dance before
him who belong to that pagoda, and thi^y give him food
and all that is necessary, and all girls born of these

* Prmnhas in original, probably for pianhas ot below, p. 288)*

^ Hindu ascetics*

* This probably refers to the Egyptian obelisk at St* Petcr^s*

< Evidently the god Ganssa.

342

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

women belong to the temple. These women are of loose
character, and live in the best streets that there are in
the city ; it is the same in all their cities, their streets
have the best rows of houses. They are very much
esteemed, and are classed amongst those honoured ones
who are the mit,tresses of the captains ; any respectable
man may go to their houses withtjut any blame attaching
thereto. These women (are allowed) even to enter the
presence of the wives of the king, and they stay with
them and eat betel with them, a thing which no other
person may do, m) matter what hi.s rank may be. This
betel is a herb which has a leaf like the leaf ot tht: pepper,
or the ivy of our country ; they always eat this leaf, and
carry it in their mouths with another fruit called areca.
This is something like a medlar, but it is very hard, and
it is very good for the breath and has many other
virtues ; jit is the best provision for those who do m>*. eat
as we do. Some of them cat flesh ; they eat all kinds
except beef and pork, and yet, nevertln-les.s, they cease
not to eat this betel all day.

Afterwards, going from this city of Darcha towards
the city of Bisnaga,^ which is eighteen leagues distant,
and i.s the capital of all the kingdont of Xar.synjga, where
the king always resides, you have many cities and walled
villages ; and two leagues before you arrive at the city
of Bisnaga you have a very lofty serra which has passes
by which you enter the city. These are called “ gates
{portas). You must enter by these, tor you will have no
means of entrance except by them. This range of hills
surrounds the city with a circle of twenty-four leagues,
and within this range there are others that encircle it

» “ Bisnaga,” the Portuguese rendering of Vijttyanagar^ the “ city of
victory.” The spellings adopted by different writers have been endless.
We have Bcejanugger and Beejnugger in the translations of Firishtah ; Bis*
nagar, Bidjanagair, Bijanagher, amongst the Portuguese } Bicheneger in the
writings of the Russian Nikitin ; Bi£eneg:alia in those of the Italian Ntcolo
dei Comi.

NARRATIVE OF PARS 243

closely. Wherever these ranges have any level ground
they cross it with a very strong wall, in such a way that
the hills remiiin all closed, except in the places where the
roads come through from the gates in the first range,
which are the entrance ways to the city. In such places
there are some small pits (or caves which could be
defended by a lew people; these serras continue as far
as the interior of tin- city. Between all these enclosures
are plains and v'alleys where rice is grown, and there
are gardens with many orange-trees, limes, citrons, and
radishes {f'abaos), and other kinds of garden produce as
in Portugal, oixly not lettuces or cabbages. Between
these hill-ranges are many lakes by which they irrigate
the crops mentiom.'d, and amongst all these ranges there
are no forests or patches of bru.shwo(Kl, except very small
one.s, nor anything that is green. P'or these hills are the
strauge.st ever seen, they are of a white stone piled one
block over another in manner most singular, so that it
seems as if they stood in the air and were not connected
one with another ; and the city i.s situated in the middle
of these hills and is entirely .surrounded by them.

The serrns nMch as far as the kingdom of Daquem,®
and border uptai the territories belonging to the Ydallcao,
and upon a city calkal Rachel that formerly belonged to
the king of Narsymga ; iht:re has been much war over
it, and this king took it from the Ydallcao. So that
these ranges are in way the cause (of the two kingdoms)
never uniting and always being at war ; and even on the
side of Orya also there are ranges, but tiiey are different
from these, since like ours they have scrub and small
patches of brushwood ; these ranges are low and between
them are great plains. On the extr<tfne east of these
two kingdoms you must know that the country is all
covered with scrub, the densest possible to be* seen, in

^ The word implies something’ dug out, as opposed to

redoubts, which would be built up, * Dakhan*

244

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

which there are great beasts, and (this) forms so strong a
fortress for it that it protects both sides ; it has its
entrances by which they pass from one kingdom to the
other- In these passes on the frontier the king of Nar~
symga has a captain with a quantity of troops, but on
the side of (Portuguese) India he has none, except as I
have said.

Now turning to the gates of the first range, 1 say
that at the entrance of the gate where thost; pass who
come from Goa, w'hich is the principal entrance on the
western side this king has m.ide w'ithin it very strong
city ^ fortified with walls and towers, and the gates at
the entrances very strong, with towers at the gates ;
these walls are not like those of other cities, but are
made of very strong masonry such as would be found
in few other parts, and inside very beautiful rows of
buildings made after their manner with fiat roofs. 'Fhere
live in this many merchants, and it is filled with a large
population because the king induces many honourable
merchants to go there from his cities, and there is
much water in it. Besides this the king made a tank *
there, which, as it seems to me, has the width of a falcon-
shot,® and it is at the mouth of two hills, so that all the
water which comes from either one side or the other
collects there ; and, besides this, water comes to it from
more than three leagues by pipes which run along the
lower parts of the range outsitie. This water is brought
from a lake which itself overfiows into a little river.
The tank has three large pillars handsomely carved
with figures ; these connect abi>ve with certain pipes
by which they get water when they have to irrigate
their gardens aid rice-fields, la tirder to make this
tank the said king broke down a hill which enclosed the

* This is NSgslSpur, the modern Hospett (Ept^. /W., iv.

* This tank or lake is described by Nuni* (see p. 364},

» Nam Hro dt/aUeOo^ a slw« from a falcon, an old piece «WF artillery.

I^fARRATiy’E OF PAES

»45

ground occupied by the said tank. In the tank I saw
so many people at work that there must have been fifteen
or twenty thousand men, looking like ants, so that you
could not see the ground on which they walked, so many
there were ; this tank the king portioned out amongst
his captains, each of whom had the duty of seeing that
the people placed under him did their work, and that
the tank was finished and brought to completion.

The tank burst two or three times, and the king
asked his Brahmans to consult their idol as to the reason
why it burst so often, and the Brahmans said that the
idol was displeased, and desired that they should make
a sacrifice, and should give him the blood of men and
horses and buffaloes ; and as soon as the king heard this
he forthwith commanded that at the gate of the pagoda
the heads of sixty men should be cut off, and of certain
horses and buffaloes, which w'as at once done.

These Brahmans are like friars with us, and they
count them as holy men — I speak of the Brahman
priests and the lettered men of the pagodas — because
although the king has many Brahmans, they are officers
of the towns and cities and belong to the government
of them ; others are merchants, and others live by their
own property and cultivation, and the fruits which grow
in their inherited grounds. Those who have charge of
the temples arc learned men, and eat nothing which
suffers death, neither flesh nor fish, nor anything which
makes broth red, for they say that it is blood. Some of
the other Brahmans whom I mentioned, who seek to
serve God, and to do penance, and to live a life like that
of the priest?, do not eat flesh or fish or any other thing
that suffers death, but only vegetables ^ and butter and
other things which they make of fruit,® with their rice.

^ JBrwdvs, “ blites,” an insipid kitchen vegetable. But as the word is not
common, and as Brahmans make use of most vegetables, I have preferred
the more general term. ® Maqaas, literally “ apples.”

46

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

They are all married, and have very beautiful wives;
he wives are xvry retiring, and very seldom leave the
louse. The w'omcn are of light colour, and in the caste
these Brahmans arc the fairest men and women that
.here are in the land ; for though there are men in other
rastes commonly <5f light complexion, yet these are few.
There are many in this country who call themselves
Brahmans, but they lead a life very different from those
of whom I have spoken, for these last are men to wliom
the king p«iys much honour, and he; holds them in
great favour.

This new city thrit the king made bears the name
of his wife for love of whom he made it,' and the said
city stands in a plain, and round it the inhabitants make
their gardens as the ground suits, each one being
separate. In this city the king made a temple with
many irriages. It is a thing very well madf', and it has
some wells very well made after their fashion ; it.s hou.ses
are not built with stories iike ours, but ar<‘ ejf only one
door, with dat, rfiofs and tower.s," different from <;>urs,
for theirs go from storey to .storey. 'They have pillars,
and are all open, with \erandahs inside and out, where
they can i*'isily put people if thi-y desire, so that they
seem like houses b/‘!ouglng to a king, lliest; palaces
h.ive an enclosing wali which surrounds them all, and
inside are many rows of ii« 'U<'es, Bef< -ro you enter the
place \vhere the king i.s there are two gates with many
guards, who prevent any one from entering except the
captains and men who have b. if, incss there; and laitween
these tw'o gates is a very large court with its veran-
dahs round it, where these captains ai I other honoured
people wait till il e king .summons them to his presence.
This king is medium height, and of fair com-

' It was generalJy caUed N.’lgalipur, ix»t Nuni* says that the lady’s name

was Chamnadev? (below*, p. 36;^)*

* Carmcktfffs. See p. z6o, aote 3.

IVARRATIVE OF PARS

*47

plexion and jjood figure, rather fat than thin ; he has
on his face signs of small-pox. fie is the most feared
and perfect king that could possibly be, cheerful of
disposition and very merry ; he is one that seeks to
honour foreigners, and receives them kindly, asking
about all their affairs whatever their condition may be
He is a great ruler and a man of much justice, but
subject to sudden fits of raged end this is his title —
“ Crisnarao Macagao,^ king of kings, lord of the greater
lords of India, lord of the three seas and of the land.”
He has this title ® because he is by rank a greater lord
than any, by reason of what he possesses in (?) armies
and territories, but it seems that he has (in fact) nothing
compared to what a man like him ought to have, so

gallant and perfect is he in all things. This king was

constantly at war with the king of Orya, and entered
his kingdom, talking and destroying many cities and
towns; he put to rout numbers of nis soldiers and ele-
phants, and took captive his .son, whom he kept for a
long time in this city of Bisnaga, where he died ; and in
order to make a treaty and (pre.servc) peace, the king of
Orya gave him a daughter w’hom the king of Bisnaga
married and has as his wife.

This king has twt'lve lawful wives, of whom there
are three principal ones, the sons of each of these

three being Iu-ir.-> of the kingdom, but nut tlu^se of

the others ; this is (the case) when there are sons to
all of them, but wiien there is only one son, whosesoever
he may be, he is heir. One of these principal wives is
the daughter «>f the king of Orya, and others daughters
of a king his vassal who is king of ScrirngapatSo ;
another wife is a courtezan whom ii^ his youth he had
for mistress before he became king, and she made him

• Grundes mpitos.

• A mixture, apparently, of MahA^ “ great,” and “ Shah.”

• The passage that follows is not very clear in the original.

24 s A roRCorrEN empire

promise that if he came to be king he would take her
to wife, and thus it came to pass that this courtezan
became his wife. For Icve of her he built this new
city, and its name was . (sic in . . . h'ach one

of these wives has her house to herself, with her maidens
and women of the chambtir, and women guards and all
other women servants necessary ; all these are women,
and no man enters where they are, save only the
eunuchs, who guar<! them. l'he.s<i women are never
seen by any man, except perhap.s t>y s<imc old man <>f
high rank by favour of the king. When they wish to
go out they are carried in litters shut up and clo.sed,^
so that they cannot be seen, and all the eunuchs with
them, fully three or four hundrt'd ; and all other people
keep a long distance from them. They told us that
each of these queens has a very large sum of money
and treasure and personal ornaments, tvimcdy armless,
bracelets, seed-pearls,^ pearls and <iiamonds, and that
in great quantity : and they jilso say that erich of them
has sixty maidens adorned as richly as could possibly
be with many jewels, and rubies and diamonds and
pearls and seed-pearls. 'I'hese we afterwards saw, and
stood a.sU)nishe<i ; we saw them at certain fe stivals
which 1 will afterwards speak of, and of th^^: manner
in which they came. Within, with these maidens, they
say that there are twelve thtiusand women ; for you
must know that there are won^en who handle sword

^ The word Iasi used is u/Aidif*, hierally ** sealed/'

* This w'urd is ronstautly u*»ed m the cltmnkies* da

Ona XXXV.) derives it from Cafiv Juhar m Arabia# near €)rmu**

Cobarruvias says it is from Arabic '* {Yuie and

l>a Orta writes: j>erkt eni rm p^r-

r cm iaiim c n& aljofar 0 mimji*

em mmrgarita, e rmi lulu^ e cm persiG c mesf &mirtis

l0$^a moll I c emi mai^ntr itiwiu, c cm p^rim^rm c al| 1 >far ;** #>• a

large pearl m r died per/a 10 Sp^nmh^ per^/a in ForfUjguese^ in Lmiin ;
m small pearl is called In Tatin r^rrfs?rrr/ci'* in Arabic in Persian and
many Indian langtmges in Malmyaiam and In Ponngiiese and

Spanish aij&fur^

" ‘ir^RATIVE OF FAES

249

and shield, and others who wrestle, and others who
blow trumpets, and others pipes, and others instruments
which are different from ours ; and in the same way
they have women as bearers {boois) and washing-folk,
and for other offices inside their gates, just as the
king has the officers of his household. These three
principal wives have each the same, one as much as
the other, so that there may never be any discord
or ill feeling between them ; all of them are great
friends, anti each one lives by herself. It may be
gathered from this what a large enclosure there must
be for thesej houses where so many people live, an'd
what streets and lanes they must have.

The king lives by himself inside the palace, and
when he wishes to have with him one of his wives
he ortiers a eunuch to go and call her. The eunuch
dc\es not enter where she is, but tells it to the female
guards, who make known to the queen that there is
a message from the king, and then comes one of her
maidens or chamber-w'omen and learns what is wanted,
and then the queen goes where the king is, or the
king comes where she is, and so passes the time as it
seems good to him without any of the others knowing.
Among.st these eunuchs the king has some ’,vho are
great f ivourites, and who .sleep where he sleeps ; they
recei\'e a large salary.

Thi.s king is iiccustomed every day to drink a
quartzlko (three-quarter pint) of oil of gingelly ^ before
daylight, and anoint.s himself all over with the said oil ;
he covers his loins with a small cloth, and takes in his
arms great weights made of earthenware, and then,
taking a sword, he exercises himself with it till he has
sweated cut all the oil, and then he wrestles with one
of his wrestlers. After this labour he moun::s a horse

* JSm^s/fymf aesamum or giagreiiy, an oil seed.

a 50

y1 FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

and gallops about the plain in one direction and an-
other till dawn, for he does all this before daybreak.
Then he goes to wash himself, and a Brahman washes
him whom he holds sacred, and w'ho is a great favourite
of his and is a man of great wealth ; and after he is
washed he goes to where his pagoda is inside the
palace, and makes his orisons and ceremonies, accord-
ing to custom. Thence he goes to a building made
in the shape of a porch without walls, which has
many pillars hung with cloths right up to the top,
and with the walls handsomely painted ; it has on
each side two figures of women very well made. In
such a building he despatches his work with those
men w-ho bear office in his kingdom, and govern his
cities, and his favourites talk with them. The great«;st
favourite is an old man called Temersea ; ‘ he com-
mands the whole household, and tc him all he
great lords act as to the king. After the king has
talked w'ith these men on subjects pleasing to him
he bids enter the lords and captains who wait at the
gate, and these at once enter to make their sjilaam
to him. As soon as they appear they make their
salaam to him, and place themselv<is along the walls
far off frorh him ; they do not sptsik one to another,
nor do they chew betel before, him, but they place
their hands in the sleeves of their tunics {calayas) and
cast their eyes on the ground ; and if the king desires
to speak to any one it is done through a second person,
and then he to whom the king desires to speak rai.ses
his eyes and replies to him who questions him. and
then returns to his former position. So they remain
till the king bids them go, and then they all turn to
make the salaam to him and go out. The salaam,

* This was tl»« great SSluva Timma, Krishna Deva’s minister. Th*
termination -rsm probably represents Arasa^ the Kanarese form for M/mk,
Teftutrsta.’^ T^mmarma^ Timmm

NARRATIl^E OF PAES

which is the greatest courtesy that exists among them,
is that they put their hands joined above their head
as high as they can. Every day they go to make the
salaam to the king.

When we came to this country the king was in
this new town, and there went to see him Christovao
de Figueiredo ' with all of us Portuguese that came
with him, and all very handsomely dressed after our
manner, with much finery ; the king received him very
well, and was very complacent to him. The king was
as much pleased with him as if he had been one of his
own people, so much attention did he evince towards
him ; and also towards those amongst us who went with
him he showed much kindness. We were so close to the
king that he touched us all and could not have enough
of looking at us. Then Christovao de Figueiredo gave
him the letters* from the Captain-Major ^ and the things
he had brought for him, with which he was greatly
delighted principally with certain organs ® that the
said Christovao de Figueiredo brought him, with many
other things (^efas). The king was clothed in certain
white cloths embroidered with many roses in gold, and

* Accordinj^ to Correa, Christovao de Figueiredo ha 4 been sent by the
governor, Lo|x> Soares, in 1517 to Vijayanagar as factor, with horses and
elephants {Lendas d<z /ndia^ ii. 509-510) , but Senhor Lopes points out (In-
troduction to his C/tronica^ Ixxxii. note) that we do not know how far this
assertion is true. He certainly lived at Goa, and not long after this battle
was made chief Tanedar of the mainlands of Goa, with residence at the
temple of Mardor, He was several times in peril at the hands df the
Mussalmlns, and in 1536 was present at the battles which took place
between the Portuguese and Asada Khtn of Belgaum, with whom he was
on terms of friendship, Mr* Danvers (ii. 507) states that he was also at
one time attorney of the factory of Goa,

* This app|i.rcntly refers to Ruy de Mello (see above, p. 14a C), If De
Sequeira were meant he would have been called Governor/'

^ Mr, Ferguson points out that thesS were undoubtedly musical

instruments* Castanheda (v, xxviii,), describing the embassy to Prester
John** under Dom Roderigo de Lima in 1520 (the same yoar), states that
mmtmg the pramnts sent to that potentate were some organs and a clavi-
chord, and a player for them*** These organs are also mentioned in Father
Alvarea^s acccwit of their embassy (Hakluyt Society Trans.» p. 10)*

8 53 ^ FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

with a /raleca * of diamonds on his nt*ck of very great
value, and on his head he had a cap of brocacle in
fashion like a Galician helmet, cov'ored with a piece
of fine stuff all of fine silk, and he was bar<;footed ;
for no one ever enters w'here the king is unless he
has bare feet, and the majority of the people, or almost
all, go about the country barefooted. 'I'he shoes have
pointed ends, in the ancient mannttr, and there are
other shoes that have ’lOthing but soles, but on top
are some straps which help to keep them on the feet.
They are made like those which of old the Romans
were wont T.<» w'ear, as you will find on figures in some
papers or antiejuitics which come from Italy. The
king gave to Christovao dc Figueiredo on dismissing
him a cabaya (tunic) of broca<le, witli a cup of the same
fashion as the king wore," and tfi h one <>f the
Portuguese he gave a cloth emhruideied with many
pretty figures, and this the king gives because it is
customary; he gi.es it in tok<‘n of friendship and
love.

When Chris. . io de P'igueiredo ha<i lieen dismissed
by the king we came fo the city ot Bisnaga, which is
a league from this new city, and here he commanded us
to be lodged in some very good houses ; aiul h'igueiredo
was visited by many lords and captains, and «ither
persons who came on behalf of the king. And the king
sent him many sheep and fowLs, .tad many vessels
{caldecs'} full of butter and honey and many other things
to eat, which he at once distributed amongst all the
foot-soldiers and people whom he had brought with
him. The king said many kind and pleitsau^l things to
him, and asked him concerning the kind of state which

* Pa/<era, something worn round the neck. There appears to be some

mistake here, as ptteca means “a sort of tong robe or gown in

Indta"{Michaetis’ Diet.).

* Varihema says, ‘*The king wears a cap of gold brocacle two spans
tong.” This was Krishna Deva’s predecessor, Hsurasitnba.

/NARRATIVE OF PARS

253

the king of Portugal kept up ; and having been told
about it all he seemed much pleased.

Returning then to the city of Bisnaga, you must
know that from it to the new city goes a street as wide
as a place of tourney, with both sides lined throughout
with rows of houses and shops where they sell every-
thing ; and all along this road are many trees that the
king commanded to be planted, so as to afford shade
to those that pass along. On this road he commanded
to be erected a very beautiful temple of stone,’^ and
there are other pagodas that the captains and great lords
caused to be erected.

So that, returning to the city of Bisnaga, you must
know that before you arrive at the city gates there is
a gate with a wall that encloses all the other enclosures
of the city, and this wall is a very strong one and of
massive stonework ; but at the present time it is in-
jured in some places. They do not fail to have citadels *
in it. This wall has a moat of water in some placefe,
and in the parts where it was constructed on low
ground. And there is, separate from it, yet another
(defence) made in the following manner. Certain
pointed stones of great height are fixed in the ground
as high as a man's breast ; they are in breadth a lance-
shaft and a half, with the same distance between them
and the great wall. This wall rises in all the low
ground till it reaches some hill or rocky land. From this
first circuit until you enter the city there is a great
distance, in which are fields in which they sow rice
and have many gardens and much water, which water
comes from two lakes. The water passes through this
first line of wall, an^ there is much water in the lakes

* This may refer to the handsome temple of Anantas^yana, a mile or so
from Hospett on the road to KlmalApur- The trees still stt-nd in parts*

* Probably the writer refers either to bastions or tower%

or to strongly places of refuge on the hilltops* The passage is

obscure*

*54

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

because of springs ; and here there are orchards and a
little grove of palms, and many houses.

Returning, then, to the first gate of the city, before
you arrive at it you pass a little piece of water and then
you arrive at the wall, which is very strong, all of stone-
work, and it makes a bend before you arrive at the
gate ; and at the entrance of this gate are two towers,
one on each side, which makes it very strong. It is
large and beautiful. As soon as you pass inside there
are two little temples ; one of them has an enclosing
wall with many trees, while the whole of the other
consists of buildings ; and this wall of the first gate
encircles the whole city. Then going forward you
have ant^ther gate with another line of wall, and it
also encircles the city inside the first, and from here
to the king’s palace is all streets and rows of houses,
very beautiful, and houses of captains and other rich
and honourable men ; you will see rows of hou.ses with
many figures and decorations pleasing to look at. Going
along the principal .street, you have f>ne of the chief
gateways,* which issues from a great open space * in
front of the king’s palace ; opposite this is another which
passes along to the other side of the city ; and across
this open space pass all the carts and conveyances
carrying stores and everything else, and because it is
in the middle of the city it cannot but be useful.

This palace of the king is surrounded by a very
strong wall like some of the others, and encloses a
greater space iieraa woot ferca) than all the castle of
Lisbon.

Still going forward, passing to the other gate you
see two temples connected with it,” one on each side,

Wimr words, iemdes Jbave beer* mcMemmlly ounitt^

in tfee |*rinted c py*

» Jlerreilw* The gateismy here spoken of it mmt probably tbe gpmx
ttatraiKe to tbe palace joai to Ifae nortb of ilie i^ltiage ckC

NARRATIVE OF PAES 35S

and at the door of one of these they kill every day
many sheep ; for in all the city they do not kill any
sheep for the use of the heathen (Hindus), or for
sale in the markets, except at the gate of this pagoda.
Of their blood they make sacrifices to the idol that is
in the temple. They leave the heads to him, and for
each sheep they give a saco ichakrarn), which is a coin
like a cartilha {^quartilha — a farthing).

There is present at the slax/ghter of these beasts 'a
jo^ (priest) who has charge of the temple, and as
soon as they cut off the head of the sheep or goat this
jog'i blows a horn as a sign that the idol receives that
sacrifice. Hereafter I shall tell of these jo^is, what sort
of men they are.^

Close to these pagodas is a triumphal car covered
with carved work and images, and on one day in each
year during a festival they drag this through the city
in such streets as it can traverse. It is large and cannot
turn corners.

Going forward, you have a broad and beautiful
street, full of rows of fine houses and streets of the
sort I have described, and it is to be understood that
the houses belong to men rich enough to afford such.
In this street live many merchants, and there you
will find all sorts of rubies, and diamonds, and emer-
alds, and pearls, and seed-pearls, and cloths, and
every other sort of thing there is on earth and that
you may wish to buy. Then you have there every
evening a fair where they sell many common horses
and nags {rods e semddros), and also many citrons,
and limes, and oranges, and grapes, and every other
kind of garden stuff, and wood ; you have all in this
street. ' At the end of it you have another gate with
its wall, which wall goes to meet the wrJl of the
second gate of which 1 have spoken in such sort that

* TIw writer forgot to fulfil thi« promiM.

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

*56

this city has three fortresses, with another which is
the king’s palace. Then when this gate is passed
you have another street where' there are many crafts-
men, and they sell many things ; and in this street
there are two small temples. There are temples in
every street, for these appertain to institutions like
the confraternities you know of in our parts, of all
the craftsmen and merchants ; but the principal and
greatest pagodas are outside the city. In this street
lodged Christovao de Figueiredo. On every Friday
you have a fair there, with many pigs and fowls and
dried fish from the sea, and other things the produce
of the country, of which I do not know the name ;
and in like manner a fair is held every day in diffe-
rent parts of the city. At the end of this street is
the Moorish quarter, which is at the very end of the
city, and of these Moors there are many who are
natives of the country® and who are paid by the king
and belong to his guard. In this city you will find men
belonging to every nation and people, because of
the great trade, which it has, and the many precious
stones there, principally diamonds.

The size of this city I do not write here, because
it cannot all be seen from any one spot, but 1 climbed
a hill whence I could see a great part of it ; I could
not see it all because it lies between several ranges
of hills. What I saw from thence seemed to me as
large as Rome, and very beautiful to the sight ; there
are many groves of trees within it, in the gardens of
the houses, and many conduits of water which flow into
the midst of it, and in places there are lakes (lam^mss)
and the king has close to his palace a palm-grove and
other rich-bearing fruit-trees. Below the Moorish!
quarter is a little river, and on this aide are many

^ gms mm43f m fm mmM mmmi

NARRATIVE OF PAES

•S7

orchards and gardens with many fruit-trees, for the
most part mangoes and areca-palms and jack-trees,
and also many lime and orange trees, growing so
closely one to another that it appears like a thick
forest ; and there are also white grapes. All the
water which is in the city comes from the two tanks
of which I have spoken, outside the first enclosing
wall.

The people in this city are countless in number,
so much so that I do not wish to write it down for
fear it should be thought fabulous ; but I declare that
no troops, horse or foot, could break their way through
any street or lane, so great are the numbers of the
people and elephants.

This is the best provided city in the world, and
is stocked with provisions such as rice, wheat,
grains, Indian-corn, and a certain amount of barley
and beans, woong^ puls>es, horse-gram,® and many
other seeds which grow in this country which are
the food of the people, and there is large store of
these and very cheap ; but wheat is not so common
as the other grains, since no one eats it except the
Moors. But you will find what I have mentioned.
The streets and markets are full of laden oxen with-
out count, so that you cannot get along for them, and
in many streets you come upon so many of them that
you have to wait for them to pass, or else have to
go by another way. There is much poultry ; they
g^ve three fowls in the city for a* coin worth a vintetn^^
which coins are called favaos ; * outside the city they give
four fowls for a viniem.

In this country there are many partridges, but

* M*mguo. "Moonjg . . . green gram ... a kind of vetch " (Yule and

Diet*)*

* * A peimy*

^ Pf^bably for famms* But the plimil of fmmo is mually ^

it

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

*58

they are not of the same sort or quality as ours : they
are like the estatrnas^ of Italy.

There are three sorts of these : one class has
only a small spur such as those of I’ortugal have ;
another class has on each foot two very sharp spurs,
almost as long and thick as one’s finger ; the other class
is painted, and of these you will find the markets full ;
as also of quails, and hares, and all kinds of wiki
fowl, and other birds which live in the lakes and which
look like geese. All these birds and game animals
they sell alive, and they are very cheap, for they
give six or eight partridges for a viniem, and of hares
they give two and sometimes one. Of other birds

they give more than you can count, for even of the

large ones they give so many that you would hardly
pay any attention to the little ones they give you,
such as doves and pigeons and the common birds of
the country. The doves are of two kinds ; some are
like those in Portugal, others are as large as thrushes ;
of the doves they give twelve t>r fourteen for a jfavaa ;
the pigeons are the same price as the other birds.
Then the sheep that they kill every day are count-
less, one could not number them, fur in every street
there are men who will sell you mutton, so clean

and so fat that it looks like pork ; and yt>u also have
pigs in some streets of butcher.s’ houses so white

and clean that you could never see better in any
country ; a pig is worth four or five Jknams,* Then
to see the many loads of limes that come each day,
such that those of Povos are of no account,* and also
loads of sweet and sour oranges, and wild
and other garden stuff in such abundance as to
stupefy one. For the state of this city t:: not like

*■ JSsirntm,

* Xient iukiw tlw piuKiiI fitut S M U,

WiafWtm 19 m tMMmX nCstiA UllCiOKS*

NARRATIVE OF PAES

»59

that of other cities, which often, fail of supplies and
provisions, for in this one everything abounds ; and also
the quantity of butter and oil and milk sold every day,
that is a thing I cannot refrain from mentioning ; and
as for the rearing of cows and buffaloes which goes
on in the city, there is so much that you will go very
far before you find another like it. There are many
pomegranates also ; grapes ,4re sold at three bunches a
jfanam, and pomegranates te!n for a fanam.

On the north side of the city is a very great river
with much water, in which are many fish, which fish are
very unwholesome, and in this river there is that which
passes for . - . {sic. in orig^.') ; other streams flow into it,
which make it very large.

Now as to the places on the bank of this river.
There is a city built there which they call Senagumdytn^
and they say that of old it was the capital of the kingdom,
but there now live in it few people ; it still has good walls
and is very stroitg, and it lies between two hill-ranges
which have only two entrances. A captain lives in this
city for the king. People cross to this place by boats
which are round like baskets ; ® inside they are made of
cane, and outside are covered with leather; they are
able to carry fifteen or twenty persons, and even horses
and oxen can cross in them if necessary, but for the most
part these animals swim across. Men row them with
a sort of paddle, and the boats are always turning round,
as they cannot go straight like others ; in all the kingdom
where there are streams there are no other boats but
these.*

There are also in this city places where they sell live
sheep ; you will see the fields round the city full of them,

» AnegimdL * Below, pp. 392, 293.

* The stone bridge, btult on rows of rough monolithic uprights, the
nanaim of which are srill to be seen near the temple of Vitthalasvfbtni,
appears, from the absence of allnsion to it, to have been constracted at a
later date.

m6o

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

and also of cows and buffaloes — it is a very pretty
sight to see, — and also the many she-goats and kids,
and the he-goats so large that they are bridled and
saddled. Many sheep are like that also, and boys
ride them.

Outside the city walls on the north there are three
very beautiful pagodais, one of which is called
and it stands over against this city of Nagumdym ; the
other is called ^dperadzanar,^ and this is the one which
they hold in most veneration, and to which they make
great pilgrimages.

In this pagoda, opposite to its principal gate which
is to the east, there is a veiy beautiful street of very
beautiful houses with balconies and arcades, in which
are sheltered the pilgrims that come to it, and there
are also houses for the lodging of the upper classes ;
the king has a palace in the same street, in which
he resides when he visits this pagoda. There is a
pomegranate tree * above this first gate ; the gate has
a very lofty tower all covered with rows of men and
women and hunting scenes and many other representa-
tions, and as the tower goes narrowing towards the top
so the images diminish in size. Passing this first gate,
you come at once into a large courtyard with another
gate of the same sort as the first, except that it is rather
smaller throughout ; and passing this second gate, there
is a large court with verandahs all round on pillars of

* This clearly alludes to the beautifully sculptured temple of Vitthalas-
vtoti, which is in the situation described.

* This word is a pimle. If the temple be, as seems most probable Crom
the description, the principal temple at Hampe, still in use, I sujggfest that
AJfpf represents “ Hampi ” or ** Hsmpe.* Rmdil n .y be ** rJtjah,^ or rmfym
msy be “rAjyam.* T**e name was perhaps given to Pass by socne omi
who described it as ** the royal Hampe temple,* and this would acctirmndy
dweribe it. It was dedicati^ to Virhpikslia, and was the cathedral of the
great dity.

> The word ttsedi is whkh may mean sstber a pome^granate tree

or a ffentale Itft. 'Tlas aJONisa^st is to the plaster jSgtrress a nd i detdgsrs on
the tower (mrtuAim} above the gate.

NARRATIVE OF PAE3 a6i

stone, and in the middle of this court is the house of
the idol.

Opposite the principal gate stand four columns, two
gilded and the other two copper, from which, owing to
their great age as it seems to me, the gold has worn
cfff ; and the other two are also of copper, for all are
of copper. That which stands nearest the gate of the
temple was given by this King Crisnarao who now reigns
here, and the others by his predecessors. All the outer
side of the gate of the temple up to the roof is covered
with copper and gilded, and on each side of the roof on
the top are certain great animals that look like tigers, all
gilt. As soon as you enter this idol-shrine, you perceive
from pillar to pillar on which it is supported many little
holes in which stand oil lamps, which burn, so they tell
me, every night, and they will be in number two thousand
fiv'e hundred or three thousand lights. As soon as you
pass this shrine you enter another small one like the
crypt (cin.zeyfo) ^ of some church ; it ha.i two doors at the
sides, and thence onward this building is like a chapel,
where stands the idol which they adore. Before you get
to it there are three doors ; the shrine is vaulted and
dark without any light from the sky ; it is always lit with
candles. At the first gate are doorkeepers who never
allow any one to enter except the Brahmans that have
charge of it, and I, because I gave something to them,
was allowed to enter. Between gate and gate are images
of little idols. Tne principal idol is a round stone with-
out any shape ; they have great devotion for it. This
building outside is all covered with copper gilt. At the
back of the temple outside, close to the verandahs of
which I have spoken, there is a small idol of white

1 CiuMeyro apparently mean* a place for wlier Cimmta ara

“ ashes of the dead.” The reference nmy be to a ptatce in a cHn,«dl» eltera
incense-btimers are kept, or, as 1 ttiink, equally eelt to the crypt, and this
last sense seenrts better tu soit the content.

»6a

A rORGOTTEN EMPIRE

alabaster with six arms;^ in one it has a . . .* and in the
other a sword, and in the others sacred emblems {amtas
dt casa), and it has below its feet a buffalo, and a large
animal which is helping to kill that buffalo- In this
pagoda there burns continually a lamp and around

are other small temples for houses of devotion.

I he other temples aforesaid are made in the same
manner, but this one is the principal one and the oldest ;
they all have many buildings and gardens with many
trees, in which the Brahnians cultivate their vegetables*
and the other herbs that they eat. Whenever the festival
of any of these temples occurs they drag along certain
triumphal cars which run on wheels, and with it go
dancing-girls and other women with music to the temple,
(conducting) the idol along the said street with much
pomp. I do not relate the manner in which these cars
are taken, because in all the time that I v/as in this city
none were taken round. There are many other temples
in the city of which I do not here speak, to avoid pro-
lixity.

You should know that among these heathen there
are days when they celebratet their feasts as with us ;
and they have their days of fasting, when all day they
eat nothing, and eat only at mitinight. When the time
of the principal fe.stival arrives the king comes from the
new city to this city of lii.snaga, since it is the capital of
the kingdom and it is the cusU/m them to make their
feasts and to assemble- Fr^r these feasts are summoned
all the dancing-wumcn of the kingdom, in order that
they should be present ; atid also the captains and kings
and great lords with all their retinues, — except only
those whom the king may have sent to make war, or those
who are in other parts, or at the far end of the kingdom

* S*Mt §ai g0is.

* Th« word tt cmittod in the Ofiginiil.

» BrtOas. See idKmt, pp. aa?, 345, note*.

NARRATIV'E OR PARS *63

on the side where (an attack) is feared, such as the
kingdom of Oria and the territories of the Ydallcao;
and even if such captains are absent in such places,
there appear for them at the feasts those whom I shall
hereafter mention.

These feasts begin on the 12th of September,' and
they last nine vlays, and take place at the kingfs palace.

The palace is on this fashion : it has a gate opening
on to the open space ® of which I have spoken, and over
this gate is a tower of some height, made like the others
with its verandahs ; outside these gates begins the wall
which I said encircled the palace. At the gate are
many doorkeepers ^ with leather scourges in their hands,
and sticks, and they let no one enter but the captains
and chief people, and those about whom they receive
orders from the Chief of the Guard, Passing this gate
you have an open space, and then you have another gate
like the first, also with its doorkeepers and guards; and
as soon as you enter inside this you have a large open
space, and on one side and the other are low verandahs
where are seated the captains and chief people in order
to witness the feasts, and on the left side of the north of
this open space is a great one-storeyed building (/errea);
all the rest are like it. This building stands on pillars
shaped like elephants and with other figures, and all
open in front, and they go up to it by staircases of
stone ; around it, underneath, is a terrace {corredo'r)
paved with very good flagstones, where stand some' of
the people looking at the feast. This house is called
the House of Victory, as it was made when the king
came back from the war against Orya, as I have already
told you. On the right side of the open space were some

* For n ditciission m to tbe dates givarfin Paes, see p- 140 C above*

t See a^bove^ p* 254. Bvideotly tbe place of anr s is referred to.

• mmr* Tbese men are often mentioned in the
chronicle. Their chief was one of ^e king's most important odicers, and
I give him the title ** Chief of the Gnard.'*

*64 ^ FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

narrow scaffoldings, made of wood and so lofty that they
could be seen over the top of the wall ; they were covered
at the top with crimson and green velvet and other
handsome cloths, and adorned from top to bottoni. Let
no one fancy that these cloths were of wool, because
there are none such in the country, bat they are of very
fine cotton. These scaffoldings are not always kept at
that place, but they are specially made for these feasts ;
there are eleven of them. Against the gates there were
two circles in which were the dancing -women, richly
arrayed with many jewels of gold and diamonds and
many pearls. Opposite the gate which is on the east
side of the front of the open space, and in the middle of
there are two buildings of the same sort as the House
of Victory of which I have spoken ; these buildings
are served by a kind of staircase of stone bcv^atifully
wrought, — one is in the middle and ti»e other at the
end. This building was all hung with rich cloths, both
the walls and the ceiling, as well as the supports, ^nd
the cloths of the walls were adorned with figures in the
maunner of embroidery ; these buildings have two plat-
forms one above the other, beautifully sculptured, with
their sides well made and worked, to which platforms
the sons of the king’s favourites come for the feasts,
and sometimes his eunuchs. On the upper platform,
close to the king, wate Christovao de Figucircdo, with
all of us who came with him, for the king commanded
that he should be put in such a place as best to see the
feasts and magnificence. That I may not forget to tell
of the streets that are in the palace I here mention
them. You must know that inside the palace that I have
spoken of is the dwelling of the king and of his wives
and of the other women who serve them, as I have
already sa»d, who are twelve thousand in number; and
they have an entrance to these rows of houses so that
they can go inside. Between this palace and the House

NARRATIVE OF PARS *65

of Victory is a gate which serves as passage to it.
Inside there are thirty-four streets.

Returning to the feasts, you must know that in this
House of V ictory the king has a room {casd) made of
cloth, with its door closed, where the idol has a shrine; and
in the other, in the middle (of the building), is placed a
dais opposite the staircase in the middle ; on which dais
stands a throne of state made thus, — ^-it is four-sided, and
flat, with a round top, and a hollow in the middle for the
seat. As regards the woodwork of it, you must know
that it is all covered with silk cloths Q soajes),'^ BSi'di has
lions all of gold, and in the spaces between the cloths
(socles') it has plates of gold with many rubies and seed-
pearls, and pearls underneath ; and round the sides it is
all full of golden images of personages, and upon these is
much work in gold, with many precious stones. In this
chair is placed an idol, also of gold, embowered in roses
and, flowers. On one side of this chair, on the dais
below, stands a head-dress ; this also is made in the
same manner ; it is upright and as high as a span, the
top is rounded, it is all full of pearls and rubies and all
otiher precious stones, and on the top of it is a pearl as
large as a nut, which is not quite round. On the other
side is an anklet for the foot made in the same fashion ;
it is another state jewel, and is full of large pearls and of
many rubies, emeralds, and diamonds, and other stones
of value ; it will be of the thickness of a man’s arm. In
front of all this, at the edge ® of the dais, resting on a
support were some cushions where the king was seated
during all these feasts. The feasts commence thus : —

* I am doubtful about this translation. The word used has probably
some technical meanin£r. Yale’s Dictionary has soosie from Peraian siAsi.
** Some kind of silk doth, but we know not what kind." The orig:inal pas-
sage runs : — “ Quoanto ao pao, sabereis qua he toda chea de suas soajes,
e de Udis todos d ooro, e no vSo d estas soajes tern hQas chapes d ouro com
ntuiytoa robi^" &&

• CsAa. I think this must mean the edge, the front, not the extreme end
of the ktii^^’a Saltxnay.

366

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

You must know that when it is morning the king
comes to this House of Victory, and Ixitakes himself to
that room where the idol is with its Brahmans, and he
performs his prayers and ceremonies. Outside the house
are some of his favourites, and on the stjuare are many
dancing-girls dancing. In their verandahs round the
square are many captains and chief people who come there
in order to see ; and on the ground, near the platforna
of the house, are eleven horses with handsome and well-
arranged trappings, and behind them are four beautiful
elephants with many adornments. After the king has
entered inside he comes out, and with him a Brahman
who takes in his hand a basket full of white roses and
approaches the king on the platform, and the king,
taking three handfuls of these roses, throws them to the
horses,^ and after he has thrown them he take.s a basket
of perfumes and acts towards them as tnough he would
cense them; and when he has finished doing this he
reaches towards the elephants and does the same to
them. And when the king has finished this, the Brah-
man takes the basket and descends to tbe platform,*
and from thence puts those roses and other flowers on
the heads of all the horses, and this done:, returns to
the king. Then the king goes again to where the idol
is, and as soon as he is inside they lift the curtains* of
the room, which are made like the purdahs of a tent,
and the king seats himself there where these are, and
they lift them all. Thence he witnesses the slaughter
of twenty-four buffaloes and a hundred and fifty sheep,
with which a sacrifice is made to that idol ; you must
know that they cut off the heads cf these buffaloes and
sheep an one blow with certain large sickl<^ which are

^ This is giveet in the i^ngtjlau- mimbw, probsblf mistake, as the
pliiral is utscMff » m , iic wa«tia,ftely alberwacxis — m

* Tenmitirm.

* PtMnMbtSf fiott ** laiwtatts " ^Pczsian, enmuns or sqmhm.

TIm» Port««n*** wmd -miiaTis a ** wnE.”

Ut' Jt'AES *67

wielded by a man who has charge of this slaughter ;
they are so sure of hand that no blow misses. When
they have finished the slaughter of these cattle the king
goes out and goes to the other large buildings, on the
platforms of which is a crowd of Brahmans, and as soon
as the king ascends to where they stand they throw to
the king ten or twelve roses — those (that is) who are
nearest to him. Then he passes all along the top of
the buildings, and as soon as he is at the end he takes
the cap from his head, and after placing it on the ground
turns back (to the place) where the idol is ; here he
lies extended on the ground. When he has arisen he
betakes himself to the interior of the building, and enters
a garden (or wailed enclosure — guyntal') where they say
that a little fire has been made, and he throws into the
fire a powder made up of many things, namely, rubies
and pearls and all other kinds of precious stones, and
aloes and other sweet-scented things. This done, he
returns to the pagoda and goes inside and stays a little,
at which time enter by the other door some of his
favourites who are in the building, and they make their
salaam. Then he goes back to the place whence he
threw the flowers to the horses, and as soon as he is
here all the captains and chief people come and make
their salaam to him, and some, if they so desire, present
some gif«.s to him ; then as they came so they retire,
and each one betakes himself to his own dwelling. And
the king withdraws to the interior of his palace by that
gate which I have already mentioned—that which stands
between the two buildings that are in the arena {ter~
r’iyro ) ; the courtesans and bayaderes ‘ remain dancing
in front of the temple and idol for a long time. This
is what is done during the morning of each day
of these nine days, with the ceremonies I have

* Midhtrm solUirm « imyi/utdeirus^ tbe danang-girls of the temple
•ad palace.

» 6 S

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

mentioned, and each day more splendid (than the
last).

Now, returning to the feasts. At three o’clock in the
afternoon every one comes to the palace. They do not
admit every one at once (they allowed us to go into
the open part that is between the gates), but there go
inside only the wrestlers and dancing- women, and the
elephants, which go with their trappings and decora-
tions, those that sit on them being armed with shields
and javelins, and wearing quilted tunics.^ As soon as
these are inside they range themselves round the arena,
each one in his place, and the wrestlers go close to the
staircase which is in the middle of that building, where
has been prepared a large space of ground for the
dancing - women to wrestle. Many other people arc
then at the entrance - gate opposite to the building,
namely Brahmans, and the sons of the King’s favourites,
and their relations ; all these are noble youths who
serve before the king. The officers of the household
go about keeping order amongst all the people, and
keep each one in his own place. The different pavilions
are separated by doors, so that no one may enter unless
he is invited.

Salvatinica," who is the principal person that enters
the building, supervises the whole, for he brought up
the king and made him king, and so the king looks on
him like a father. Whenever the king calls to him he
addresses him as “ L.ord (senkor) Salvatinica,” and all
the captains and nobles of the realm make salaam to him.
This Salvatinica stands inside the arena where the fes~
tivals go on, near one of the doors, and from there gives
the word for the admission of ail the things necessary
for the festival.

* lAxtodk*, S«e below, p. 276^ note regiundiog immdks.

* SAlovs Tinuna, tbe nitiuter. Tbe muxM ia apeli in vaution* ways in tlM

cbxotticiCMi of botib Fwm and Nunix. Kriafana ow«d hit thro«« to bdbn

CWtow, p. 315).

lyAtiKjiJiii^iL fJl-' Jt'JlKS a67

wielded by a man who has charge of this slaughter ;
they are so sure of hand that no blow misses. When
they have finished the slaughter of these cattle the king
goes out and goes to the other large buildings, on the
platforms of which is a crowd of Brahmans, and as soon
as the king ascends to where they stand they throw to
the king ten or twelve roses — those (that is) who are
nearest to him. Then he passes all along the top of
the buildings, and as soon as he is at the end he takes
the cap from his head, and after placing it on the ground
turns back (to the place) where the idol is ; here he
lies extended on the ground. W^hen he has arisen he
betakes himself to the interior of the building, and enters
a garden (or walled enclosure — quyntaL') where they say
that a little fire has been made, and he throw's into the
fire a powder made up of many things, namely, rubies
and pearls and all other kinds of precious stones, and
aloes and other sweet-scented things. This done, he
returns to the pagoda and goes inside and stays a little,
at which time enter by the other door some of his
favourites who are in the building, and they make their
salaam. Then he goes back to the place whence he
threw the flowers to the horses, and as soon as he is
here all the captains and chief people come and make
their salaam to him, and some, if they so desire, present
some gifi.s to him ; then as they came so they retire,
and each one betakes himself to his own dwelling. And
the king withdraws to the interior of his palace by that
gate which I have already mentioned — ^that which stands
between the two buildings that are in the arena (/«»*-
nfyr<?) ; the courtesans and bayaderes ^ remain dancing
in front of the temple and idol for a long time. This
is what is done during the morning of each day
of these nine days, with the ceremonies I have

* Moihiufm soU*iras m bayHuuiHraSt *>. the danons-girls of the temple
•ad palace.

a 70

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

are all overlaid with gold ; these plumes are tokens
of the highest dignity ; they also fan the king with
them.

As’^ soon as the king is seated, the captains who
waited without make their entrance, each one by himself,
attended by his chief people, and so on, all in <>rder ;
they approach and make their salaams to the king, and
then take their places in the pavilions {z’e-ratndas) which
I have previously described. As soon as these nobles
have finished entering, the captains of the troops apprt>ach
with shields and spears, and afterwards the captains of
the archers ; these officers are all stationed on th«‘ gr«>und
around the arena in front of the elephants, and they con-
stitute the king’s guard, for into such a place nf) man
may enter bearing arms, nor near to where the king is.
As soon as these soldiers have all taken their places
the women begin to dance, while some nf them place
themselves in the circular galleries that I liuve said
were (erected) at their gate cf entran<-e. W’ho can
fitly describe to you the great riches theN<; women
carry on their persons? — collars of gold with so many
diamonds and rubies and pearls, bracelets also on their
arms and on their upper arms, girdles bei( »w, an<i of neces-
sity anklets on the feet. The marvel shouhl be other-
wise, namely that womon of such a profession should
obtain such wealth ; but there art; women amtmg them
who have lands that have been given to them, and
litters, and so many maid - servants that one cannot
number all their things. There is a woman In this
city who is said to have a hundred thousand pa-rdms*
and I believe this from what 1 have seen of them.

* The writer bejgrin* again, ** Rut returning to the X have

osnitted the phraae here, as it has become rather monotonous.

» A small gold coin, of which it is very didk»lt to assess the exact vahte.
Ahdmr Itazzilc (1443) afiparently mstkes it equal to the half |)«goda | Viiur-
thema the pagoda itself t and this latter is the aettae In whkh

we tmist ta^ It. VaitiMnm calls it a goM dbcaat,* IWehas say* it was in

NARRATIVE OF PARS

271

Then the wrestlers begin their play. Their wrest-
ling does not seem like ours, but there are blows (given),
so severe as to break teeth, and put out eyes, and dis-
figure faces, so much so that here and there men are
carried off speechless by their friends ; they give one
another fine falls too. They have their captains and
judges, who aie there to put each one on an equal
footing in the field, and also to adjust the honours to
him who wins.

In all this portion of the day nothing more is done
than this wrestling and the dancing of the women, but

soon as ever the sun is down many torches are lit
and some great flambeaux made of cloth ; and these
are placed about the arena in such a way that the whole
is as light as day, and even along the top of the walls,
for on all the battlements are lighted lamps, and the
place where the Jfeing sits is all full of torches. As soon
as these are all lit up there are introduced many very
graceful plays and contrivances, but these do not stop
long ; they only approach where the king is and then
go out. Then there enter others in other fashion, with
battles of people on horseback ; these horses are like
the hobby-horses made in Portugal for the feast of the
Corpo de Dios ; others come with casting-nets, fishing,
and capturing the men that are in the arena. When
these amusements are ended, they begin to throw up
many rockets and many different sorts of fires, also
castles that bum and fling out from themselves many
bombs {tiros) and rockets-

When these fireworks are finished, there enter many
triumphal cars which belong to the captains, some of

his da.y about the value of a Flemish dollar. The general value assigned in
more recent days to the pagoda is 3J rupees, or seven shillings when the rupee
stands at par value. (See Vule and Burnell’s Dictionary, “ Hchson-Jobson,*
JF.W, “pagoda” and “pardao.” Yule apparently values it, at the period
treated of, as abcmt 4s. 6d.> Barros and Castanheda both agree with Paes
that the paxdao was worth 360 reis. (Below, p. 282.)

*72

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

them sent by those captains who are wagtng^ war in
foreign parts ; and they enter thus. The first belongs
to Salvatinica, and they come in one after the other.
Some of the cars appear covered with many rich cloths,
having on them many devices of dancing-girls and other
human figures ; there are other cars having tiers one on
top of another, and others all of one kind ; and so in
their order they pass to where the king is. When the
cars have gone out they are immediately followed by
many horses covered with trappings and cloths of very
fine stuff of the king’s colours, and with many roses
and flowers on their heads and necks, and with their
bridles all gilded ; and in front of these horses goes a
horse with two state-umbrellas of the king, and with
grander decorations than the others, and one of the
lesser equerries leads it by the bridle. In front of this
horse goes another caracoling and prancing, as do »dl
horses here, being trained in that art. You must know
that this horse that is conducted with all thi.s state is a
horse that the king keeps, on which they are sworn and
received as kings, and on it must be sworn all tho.se that
shall come after them ; and in case such a horse dies
they put another in its place. If any king d<)es not
wish to be sworn on horseback, they swear him on an
elephant, which they keep and treat with equal dignity.

These horses, then, going in the way I have stated,
p^s twice round the arena and place themselves in the
middle of the arena in five or six lines, one before the
other, and the king’s horse in front of them, all facing
the king ; they stand in such a way that between them
and the men there is an open .space all round. As soon
as they are arranged in this way and are all quiet there
goes out from the inside of the palace a Brahman, the
highest ir rank of those about the king, ami two others
with him, and this chief Brahman carries in his hands
a bowl with a cocoanut and some rice and flowers, while

NARRATIVE OF RAES

*73

Others carry a pot of water ; and they pass round by the
back of the horses, which all stand facing- the king ; and
after performing his ceremonies there, he returns to the
palace.

After this is over you will see issuing frbm inside
twenty-five or thirty female doorkeepers, with canes in
their hands and whips on their shoulders ; and then close
to these come many eunuchs, and after these eunuchs
come many women playing many trumpets and drums
and pipes {but not like ours) and viols, and many other
kinds of mu.sic, and behind these women will come some
twenty women-porters, with canes in their hands all
covered with silver, and close to them come women
clothed in the following manner. They have very rich
and fine silk cloths ; on the head they wear high caps
■w'hich they call co//aes,^ and on these caps they wear
flowers made of large pearls ; collars on the neck with
jewels of gold very richly set with many emeralds and
diamond.s and rubies and pearls ; and besides this many
strings of pearls, and others for shoulder-belts ; on the
lower part of’ the arms many bracelets, with half of the
upper arm all bare, having armlets in the same way
all of precious stones ; on the waist many girdles of
gold and of precious stones, which girdles hang in order
one below the other, almost as far down as half the
thigh ; bc:3ides these belts they have other jewels, and
many strings of pearls round the ankles, for they wear
very rich anklets even of greater value than the rest.
They carry in their hands vessels of gold each as large
as a small cask of water ; inside these are some loops
made of pearls fastened with wax, and inside all this a
lighted lamp. They come in regular order one before
the other, in all perhaps sixty women fair and young,
from sixteen to twenty years of age. Who ic he that

* Kullayi in Telugu. See pp. axoy 252, note 3 , and p. 383. These women
appear to have worn men’s head-dresses.

*74

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

could tell of the costliness and the value of what each
of these women carries on her person ? So i^reat is
the weight of the bracelets and gold and jewels carried
by them that many of them cannot support them, and
women accompany them assisting them by supporting
their arms. In this manner and in this array they pro-
ceed three times round the horses, and at the end retire
into the palace. These women are maids of honour to
the queens, and so are the others that go with them ; on
each day of these nine days of the feast one of the
queens sends, each on her own day, her ladies with the
others. The officials, in honour of the feast, have the
days divided between them in accordance with their
custom as already arranged by the king ; and these
women come every day most richly attired, taking
pleasure in shewing themselves in such things, and
in making a display each one of what sl:e possesses.

When these women retire the horses also go, and
then come the elephants, and after making their salaam
they too retire. As soon as they are gone the king re-
tires by a small door which is at the end of the building.
Then the Brahmans go and take an idol, and carry it to
the House of Victory, where is the room of cloth that I
have spoken of ; and the king at once comes from within,
and goes to where the idol is, and offers his prayers and
performs his ceremonies. Then they bring there more
buffaloes and sheep, and kill them in the same way as
before, and then come the professional women to dance.
As soon as the slaughter of the buffaloes and sheep is
over the king retires, and goes to his supper ; for he fasts
all these nine days, and (each day) they cat nothing until
all is finished, and their hour for food is midnight. The
bayaderes remain dancing before the idol a long time
after all this is done.

In this way are celebrated these festivals of nine
days ; on the last day there are slaughtered two hundred

NARRATIVE OF PARS *75

and fifty buffaloes and four thousand five hundred
sheep.

When these days of festival are past, the king holds
a review of all his forces, and the review is thus arranged.
The king commands to pitch his tent of Mecca velvet a
full league from the city, at a place already fixed for that
purpose ; and in this tent they place the idol in honour
of which all these festivals are celebrated. From this
tent to the king’s palace the captains range themselves
with their troops and array, each one in his place accord-
ing to his rank in the king’s household. Thus the sol-
diers stand in line ; but it does not appear to you to be
only one line but in some places two or three, one behind
the other. W’here there was a lake it was surrounded
with troops, and where the road was narrow they were
drawn up on the plain ; and so on the slope of the hills
and eminences, In such a way that you could see neither
plain nor hill that was not entirely covered with troops.
Those on foot stood in front of those on horses,, and the
elephants behind the horses ; in this array was each
captain with his troops. The captains who had their
stations inside the city, since the soldiers could not be
drawn up on the flat roofs of the houses, put up scaf-
foldings across the mouths of the streets to hold the
troops, in such a way that all were full, both outside
and in.

Now I should like to describe to you how they
were armed, and tneir decorations. The cavalry were
mounted on horses fully caparisoned, and on their fore-
heads plates, some of silver but most of them gilded,
with fringes of twisted silk of all colours, and reins
of the same ; * others had trappings of Mecca velvet,
which is ’••elvet of many colours with fringes and orna-
ments ; others had them of other silks, such as satins
and damask, and others of brocade from China and
^ Tb« reins wete not of leather, btit of silk twisted into ropes.

* 7 ®

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

Persia.^ Some of the men with the gilded r lates had
them set with many large precious stones, and on the
borders lace - work of small stones. Sc»mc of these
horses had on their foreheads hcatls ttf serpents and
of other large animals of various kiinls, made in such a
strange manner that they were a sight to see for the
perfection of their make. The horsemen were dressed
in quilted tunics," also of brocade and velvet and every
kind of silk. These tunics .ue made <if layers of very
strong raw leather, and furnished with other iron
(plates) that make them strong ; some have these plates
gilded both inside and otat, and some are made of silver.
Their headpieces are in the manner of helmets with
borders covering the neck, and each has its piece to
protect the face ; they are of the same fashion as the
tunics. They wear on the neck gorgets {cqfos) all
gilded, others made of silk with plates of gold and
silver, others of steel as bright as a mirror. At the
waists they have swords and small battle-axes, and in
their hands javelins with the shafts covered with gold
and silver. All have their umbrellas of state made of

^ I read the word In the MS. Xfsma^/, and Mr. Lope** suggests that:
this stands for Sheik If imdmihtedly Ferstm ia

meant*

* This word, variously spelt* is constantly iii»ecL It appears

to refer to the thick quilted tunics, strengthened by leather nr metal pieces*
which were so often worn in India in old days. They w*eie in many rases richly
onmmenied* and formed a good defence against &word<uts. The piliari
of the elaborately omaniented of the temple in the fort

at Vellore in North Arcot* which was hatit during the Viiay“tnagar perkM !34
ium carved with rearing horses* whose riders wear jerkins, apparently
of leather^ fwiiened with by lions ami loops* It is possible that this
was the body-cloihlng referred to by the chronicler. I can give no ettm
to the origin of the word* unless it be connected wuh the KmmkMmm
*^it stuffed cloth or cushtonu^ Emrros* describing the dreti of llie
Hindu cavalry in the ^ichClr campaign of 1530* says thm they wore
of coiims whaitever that may mean in this

or body* head, and arms, strong enough to protect thiwi agaiawt
iance-thrusi* or sword-cuts ; the horses mnd elephants were similarly pro-
tocted, Foot-soMieia carried tm dedensive arnwur ^ fcssit only the AimdmJ*
3CN(sci*< X JE* h iv** O’**

NARRATIVE OF PAES

277

embroidered velvet a.nd damask, with many coloured
silks on the horses. They wave many (standards with)
white and coloured tails, and hold them in much esteem
— which tails are horses’ tails. The elephants in the
same w^ay are covered with caparison of velvet and
gold with fringes, and rich cloths of many colours, and
with bells so that the earth resounds ; and on their
heads are painted faces of giants and other kinds of great
beasts. On the back of each one of them are three
or four men, dressed in their quilted tunics, and armed
with shields and javelins, and they are arrayed as if
for a foray. Then, turning to the troops on foot, there
are so many that they surround all the valleys and hills
in a way with which nothing in the world can compare.
You will scf: amongst them dresses of such rich cloths
that I do not know where they came from, nor could
any one tell how many colours they have ; shield-men
with their shields, with many flowers of gold and silver
on them, others with figurc.s of tigers and other great
beasts, others all covered with silver leaf-work beauti-
fully wrought, others with painted colours, others black
and (so polished that) you can see into them as mto a
mirror, and their swords so richly ornamented that they
could not possibly be more so. Of the archers, I must
tell you that they have bows plated with gold and silver,
and others have them polished, and their ar’'Ows very
neat, and so feathered that they could not be better ;
daggers at their waists and battle-axes, with the shafts
and ends of gold and silver ; then you see musqueteers
with their musquets and blunderbusses and their thick
tunics, all in their order, with their . . in all their
bravery ; it v/as indeed a thing to see. Then the M oors
— one must not forget them — for they were there also
in the review with their shields, javelins, anc’ 1 urkish
bows, with many bombs and spears and fire-missiles »

* The meainoK u not clear.

3 78 A FOEGOITEN EMPIRE

and I was much astonished to find amongst them men
who knew so well how to work these weapons.

The king leaves his palace riding on the horse of
which I have already t<»Id you, clothed in the many rich
white cloths I have mentioned, with two umbrellas of
state all gilded and covered with crimson velvet, and
with the jewels and adornments which they keep for
the purpose of wearing at such times : he who ever
wears such jewels can understand the sort of things
so great a lord would wear. Then to see the grandeur
of the nobles and men of rank, I cannot possibly describe
it all, nor should I be believed if I tried to do so ; then
to see the horses and the armour that they wear, you
would see them so covered with metal plates that I have
no words to express what I saw. and some hid from me
the sight of others ; and to try and tell of ail I saw is
hopeless, for I went along ivith my head so often turned
from one side lO the other thnt I was almost falling
backwards off my lujrsc with my senses lost. The cost
of it all is not .so much to be \v(‘)nder<:.d at, a.s there
is so much money in the land, and the chiefs are so
wealthy.

There went In front of the king many elephants
with their coverings and ornaments, as I have said ;
the king had before him some twenty horses fully capa-
risoned and saddled, with embroideries <.>f gt'Jd and
precious stones, that showed off well the grandeur and
state of their lord. Close to the king weiu a cage
such a.s is seen at l-isbon on the day of the Corpo
de Dios festival, and it was gilded and vary large ;
it seemed to me to be made of c<jpper or silver ; it was
carried liy sixteen men, eight on each side, besides
other.* who took their tum.s, and in it is carried the
idol of which I lia%'e already spoken. Thus accom-
panied the king pdussed along gazing at his soldiers, who
gave great shouts and cries and struck their shields ;

NARRATIVE OF PAES

*79

the horses neig^hed, the elephants screamed, so that it
seemed as if the city would be overturned, the hills
and valleys and all the ground trembled with the dis-
charges of arms and musquets ; and to see the bombs
and fire-missiles over the plains, this was indeed wonder-
ful. Truly it seemed as if the whole world were collected
there.

In this way it went on till the king arrived at the
place where the tent was that I have already mentioned,
and he entered bis and performed his usual ceremonies
and prayers. You must not think that when the king
passed the troops moved from their positions, on the
contrary they stood motionless in their places till the king
returned. As soon as the king had finished his cere-
monies he again took horse and returned to the city in
the same way as he had come, the troops never weary-
ing of their shouting ; as soon as he passed by them
they begfjn to march. Then to see those who were
on the hills and slopes, and the descent of them with
their shouts and beating of shields and shaking of
arrows and bows that were without count. Truly, I was
so carried out with myself that it seemed as if what I
saw was a vision, and that I was in a dream. Then the
troops began to march to their tents and pavilions in
the plains, which were in great number ; and all the
captains accompanied the king as far as the palace,
and thence departed to rest themselves from their
labour.

Now I desire you to know that this king has con-
tinually a million fighting troops,^ in which are included
35,000 cavalry in armour *, all these are in his pay, and
he has these troops always together and ready to be
despatched to any quarter whenever such may be neces-
sary. I saw, being in this city of Bisnagr, the king
despatch a force against a place, one of those which
* A# to this large number see p. 147 flf. above.

aSo

Jl FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

he has by the sea-coast ; and he sent fifty captains with
i 50 ,ocx> soldiers, asinm^st whom were many cavalry.
He has many elephants, and when the kinj^ wishes to
show the strength of his power to any of his adver-
saries amongst the three kings boniering on his king-
dom, they say that he puts into the fieki two million
soldiers ; in consequence of which he is the most feared
king of any in these parts. And although he trikes
away so many men from his kingdom, it miist not
be thought that the kingdom remains devoid of men ;
it is so full that it would seem to you as if he had never
taken away a man, and this by reason of the many
and great merchants that are in it. There are working
people and all other kinds of men who are employed
in business, besides tliose who are obliged to go into
the field ; there art* also a great nninber of Brahmans.
In all the land of the heathen there a»e these Brah-
mans ; they are men who do not eat anything that
suffers death ; they have little stiimach for the use of
arms.

Should any one ask what revenues this king pos-
sesses, and what his treasure is that enables him ii> pay
so many troops, since he has so many and such great
lords in his kingdom, who, the greater part t>f them,
have themselves revenues, I answer thus : 'Bhese cap-
tains whom he has over these troops of his are the
nobles of his kingdom ; they are k>rds, and they hold*
the city, and the towns and villages of the kingdom ;
there are captains amongst them who have a revenue
of a million and a million a half of pardmus, others a
hundred thousand parda&s, others two hundjed, three
hundred or five hundred thousand pardmfs, and as
each one has revenue so the king fixes for him the
number of troops he must maintain, in foot, horse, and
elephants.* These tr«*ops are always ready for duty,

^ Some detail* arc gweti hy Mitait p. 584 CX

NARRATIVE OF RAES

381

whenever they may be called out and wherever they
may have to go ; and in this way he has this million
of fighting men always ready. Each of these cap-
tains labours to turn out the best troops he can get
because he pays them their salaries ; and in this re-
view there were the finest young men possible to be
seen or that over could be seen, for in all this array
I did not see a man that would act the coward. Besides
maintaining these troops, each captain has to make
his annual payments to the king, and the king has
his own salaried troops to whom he gives pay. He
has eight hundred elephants attached to his person,
and five hundred horses alw'ays in his stables, and
for the expenses of these horses and elephants he
has devoted the revenues that he receives from this
city of Bisnaga. You may well imagine how great
these expenses may be, and besides these that of the
servants who have the care of the horses and ele-
phants ; and by this you will be able to judge what
will be the revenue of this city.

This king of Bisnaga has five kings his subjects
and vassals,^ besides other captains and lords having
large territories and great revenues ; whenever a son
happens to be born to this king, or a daughter, all
the nobles of the kingdom offer him great presents
of money and jewels of price, and so they do to him
every year on the day of his birth.

You must know that when these feasts of which
I have spoken are ended, at the beginning of the
month of October, when eleven of its days are past,
they make great feasts, during which every one puts
on new, and rich, and handsome cloths, each one ac-
cording to his liking, and all the captains give their

According to the quite independent testimony of Ntiniz (below, p* 374>
these were the ** kings** of Bank^lpuri Gersoppa^ Bakanilr Calient, and
Bhatkal.

a 8a yf FORGOTTE.V EMPIRE

men handsome cloths of many colours, each one hav-
ing his own colour and device. On the same day
they give great gifts of money to the king, it is even
said that they give on that tiay to the king in money
a million and five hundred thousand goki pa^daos,
and each pardao is worth three hundred and sixty
Teis, and from this you will b*‘ aide tt) know' how'
many reis there will be. I wish .you to know that
on this day begins their year; it is their New Year’s
I>ay, and for this they make the feast and give the
gifts ; and it is not to be wondered at, for we also
do the same on New Year’s Day. They begin the
year in this month with the; new moon, and they count
the months always from moon to moon.*

And now I wish you to know that the previous
kings of this place for many years past have held it
a custom to maintain a treasury, which tr<.asury, after
the death of each, is kept locked and se;iltjd in such
a way that it cannot be .seen by any one, nor opened,
nor do the kings who succeed to the kingdom open
them or know what is in them. They are not ojnined
except when the kings have great need, and thus
the kingdom has great supplies to meet its needs.
This king has made his treasury different from those
of the previous kings, and he puts in it every year
ten million pardaus^ without taking from tnem one
pardao more than for the expenses of his house. The
rest remains for him, over and above these expenses
and of the expenses in the houses of his wives, of
whom I have already told you that he keeps near
him twelve thousand women ; from this you will be
able to Judge how great is the richness of this king-
dom, and how great the treasure that this king has
amassed.

And if any one does not know what a pardao i%

^ For m Ml ooco imi w tibaie cliifiottolo|^ dmmU m» 140 £

NARRATIVE OR PARS 283

let him know that it is a round gold coin, which
coin is not struck anywhere in India except in this
kingdom ; it bears impressed on it on one side two
images and on the other the name of the king who
commanded it to be struck ; those which this king
ordered to be struck have only one image. This coin
is current all over India. Each pa-rdao, as already
said, is worth three hundred and sixty rets.

After all these things (feasts) had passed the king
betook himself to the new city, of which I have al-
ready told you that he delights in it much because
it was made and peopled by him, of which I have
already told you. In two years the king built this
city. The king was received by the citizens with
great feasts, and the streets were hung with rich
cloths, and with many triumphal arches under which
he passed. In this city the king held another review
of the troops of his guard, and he distributed pay to
all because it was the beginning of the year, and it
is their custom to pay salaries year by year. An
inspection is held by the officers of his house, and
they write down the name of each one, and the
marks that he has on his face or body. There are
men of the guard who have a thousand pa-rdaos pay,
and others eight hundred, others six hundred and
more, and a little more or less ; there is a difference,
and also a difference in the persons. Some men of
them who are of higher rank than others have two
horses or three, and others have no more than one.
These troops have their captains, and each captain
goes with his guard to mount guard at the palace
according to order and custom ; the king has in his
guard ffve hundred horse, and tiiese watch outside
the palace armed with their weapons. iThere are
two watches inside, and people with swords and
shields.

2 84 FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

The kinjj, then, hein|^ in his new city, as I have
said, Christovao de h'i^utjiredo bt*}4g;ed hini of his
kindness that he wfinkl permit him to he shown the
palace of iJie city of Bisna^.i, forasmuch as there had
come with him many' Portuj^uese who hati ne%'er been
in I^isnaj,pi, and they wouUi rejok-e to s'*c it, in order
to ha%'e s.,>mcwhat to teli of on their return to their
own lands, whenever God should take them there.
The king at once commanded that they should be
shown certain ot his residences, for that of his wives
no one ever sees. As sorm as we had returned to
the city of Bi.snaga. the govenu^r of that place, who is
called Gamdarajo. ami is brother of Salvatinica,^ showed
us the palace.

You must know that on entering that gate of which
I have spoken, by w'hich the ladies serving the king's
wives make their exit when they come to the feast, op-
posite to it there is another of tlu: same kind. Here they
bade us stand still, and they counted us how many we
were, and as they counted they admitted us tme by one
to a small courtyard with a smoothly plastered tkxir, and
with very white walls around it.* At the end of this
courtyard, opposite this gate by which we entered, is
another close to it on the left hand, an<l another which
was closed ; the door opposite belongs to the king's
residence. At the entrance of this door outside are
two images painted like life and drawn in their
manner, which are these ; the one on the right hand

* TJbe ** t Jyamiaia of Nunu (below^ p,

* All buildings arr oiierly de^smyed* hut there h no doyht that

carefal and system.isic cxc^ivaiiopsi would dmetom the whole plan of the
ptlAce, and that in the ruins and ddfons would he found the remains of the
beautiful scutpuires descr. ^ed. Close behind the great decorated pavilion
from whirh the Lmg and his toun witnessed the feasts described by Fitaii
and therefore lose to the gaie |usi alluded to* are to be seerii baJf^bctmd in
earth and debris, two large Mone doors, nmch made of a imfle slab* Tlae
stone hm been cut in panels to imitale moodwmk^ and has large
carved from the same block

NARRATIVE OF PARS

285

is of the father of this king, and the one on the left
is of this king. The father was dark and a gentle-
man of fine form, stouter than the son is ; they stand
with all their apparel and such raiment as they wear
or used to wear when alive. Afterwards, wishing to
pass in at this door, they again counted us, and after
they had finished counting us we entered a little house
which contained what I shall now relate.

As soon as you are inside, on the left hand, are two
chambers one above the other, which are in this manner :
the lower one is below the level of the ground, with two
little steps which are covered wdth copper gilded, and
from there to the top is all lined with gold (I do not say
“gilded,” but “lined” inside), and outside it is dome-
shaped. It has a four-sided porch made of cane-woi'k^
over which is a work of rubies and diamonds and all
other kinds of precious stones, and pearls, and above the
porch are two pendants of gold ; all the precious stone-
work is in heart-shapes, and, interweaved between one
and another, is a twist of thick seed-pearl work ; on the
dome are pendants of the same. In this chamber was
a bed which had feet similar to the porch, the cross-bars
covered with gold, and there was on it a mattress of
black satin ; it had all round it a railing of pearls a span
wide ; on it were two cushions and no other covering.
Of the chamber above it I shall not say if it held any-
thing because I did not see it, but only the one below on
the right side. In this house there is a room with pillars
of carved stone ; this room is all of ivory, as well the
chamber as the walls, from top to bottom, and the pillars
of the cross-timbers at the top had roses and flowers of
lotuses all of ivory, and all well executed, so that there

‘ Feyto de huas nuyas canas. I am doubtful as to the meaning of this.
Examination of the mass of ruins now remaining would settle all these
points. Stone sculptures were broken up and left. They were not removed.
(See also p. aSS below.)

aB6

A rORGOTTEN EMPIRE

could not be better, — it is so rich and beautiful that you
would hardly find anywhere another such. On this
same side is designed in painting all the ways of life
of the men who have been here even down to the
Portuguese, from which the king’s wives can understand
the manner in which each one lives in his own country,
even to the blind and the beggars. In this h<>use are
two thrones covered with gold, and a cot of silver with
its curtains. Here I saw a little slab of green jasper,
which is held for a great thing in this house. Close
to where this jasper is, z.e. underneath some arches
where is the entrance into the palace, there is a
little door closed with some padlocks : they told us
that inside it there was a treasury of one of the
former kings.

As soon as we left this house we entered a courtyard
as large as an arena for beast-fights, veiy w<;ll pla.stt.Tcd,
and almost in the middle are some pillars ixf wood, with
a cross beam at the top all cox’-ered with coppt;r gik, and
in the middle four chains of silver links with hooks
which are caught one into the other ; this serves fur a
swing for the wives of the king. At the entrance of this
courtyard on the right hand we mounted four or five
steps and entered some beautiful houses made in the
way I have already told you — for their houses are
single-storeyed houses with tlat roofs on top, although
on top there may be other houses ; the plan is good, and
they are like terraces. Th<‘re ts a btukling there built
on many pillars, which are of stone- wtjrk, and so also
is all the work of the r«x>f, with all the rest of wood
(mafterta), and all the pillars {with all the other work)
are gilded so that they seem as if covered with
gold.

Then at the entrance of this building in the middle
nave, there is, standing on four pillars, a canopy coveted
with many figures of dancing-women, besides other small

NARRATIVE OF PAES

287

figures ^ which are placed in the stone-work. All this is
also gilded, and has some red colour on the under-sides
of the leaves which stand out from the sculpture. You
must know that they make no use of this building because
it belongs to their idol and to the temple. At the end of
this is a little closed door where the idol is. Whenever
they celebrate any festival of this idol, they carry it on a
golden throne and put it underneath that canopy which
is made for that purpose ; and then come the Brahmans
to perform their ceremonies there, and the dancing-girls
come to dance.

Descending from this building, we passed on the left
side of the courtyard, and we entered a corridor which
runs the whole length of it, in which we saw some
things. On entering the corridor was a cot suspended in
the air by silver chains ; the cot had feet made of bars of
gold, so well made that they could not be better, and
the cross-bars of the cot were covered with gold. In
front of this cot was a chamber where was another cot
suspended in the air by chains of gold ; this cot had feet
of gold with much setting of precious stones, and the
cross-bars were covered with gold. Above this chamber
was another, smaller, and with nothing in it save only
that it was gilt and painted. Passing this chamber,
along the same corridor in front was a chamber which
this king! commanded to be made ; on the outside were
figures of women with bows and arrows like amazons.
They had begun tc paint this chamber, and they told us
that it had to be finer than the others, and that it was to
be all plated with gold, as well the ground below as all
the rest. Passing this corridor and mounting up into
another which is higher, we saw at one end three
caldrons of gold, so large that in each one they could

* Mr, Ferguson has ingeniously emendated Senhor Lopes’s reading,
from yinagets por gue nos gue estdo metidas to ymagees peguenas gue^
See. . . . The MS., ^wever, which is itself a copy, Ta.akSp&rgue nos.

3 88

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

cook half a cow, aad with them were others, very large
ones, cf silver, and also little pots <'»f gold and some
large ones. Thence we went up by a little staircase,
and entered by a little door into a building which is
in this manner. This hail i.s where the king sends his
women to be taught to dance. It is a long hall and not
very w'ide, all of .stone sculpture on pillars, which are
at a distance of qtiite an arm’.s length from the wall ;
between one and an«.>ther is an arm's length and a half,,
perhaps a little more. These pillars stand in that
manner all around the building ; they are half-pillars (?)^
made with other h<dlows (?) all gilt."' In the supports
(or pedestals) on the top ® are many great beasts like
elephants, and of other shapes ; it i.s open so that the
interior is seen, and there are on the inner si<io of these
beasts other imagts, each placed according to its charac-
ter; there are also figure.s of mt-n turnea back to hack,
and other beasts of different .sorts. In each case from
pillar to pillar is a cross-bar (the architrave) which is like
a panel, and fre^m f>illar to piliar arc* many such panels;
there are images of old men, too, gild<*tl aiui of the size
of a cubit. Kach of the panels lias c»ne placed in this way.
These images are over all the !>uilding. Ami on the
pillars arc f>ther images, smaller, with other image.s yet
more suhurtknat'-. .md other figures .tg.iin, in such a
way that I saw tlnr» work gratiually tiintinishiag in size
on these pillar.s with tbt.ir designs, from pillar to pillar,

» dtmras p. ^fr^innK n«il imdrruirmd, nulet*

ii be as rendereci

s This descrtp^iois noi:tr. The wt^rr is evidemi/

r.bmg a r* hb/ yiptuxif tl* many numplm Juw

sti«l to he h€tn in temples* and he that thr fif *he itone €an*ijng

wm Idy coloured and gilded, ilie ca«. Trac^

of tolnnr remain on many of buddinK^ *ii

^ (^ee atove* p. U41, rrob**bly rhe *%culptiircii were like nimsy

still to Iv sreli .n ihe temples of that dale in Soyihern India* inhere thm base
of me pillar is elaborately carsced with grmeMiuc figures ol clephaBtSf hoir*^
and loofitteTs.

NARRATIVE OF PAES 289

ind each time smaller by the size of a span as it went on,
oecoming lost ; so it went dwindling gradually away till
there remained of all the sculptured work only the dome,
the most beautiful I ever saw. Between these images
and pillars runs a design of foliage, like plates {a ntaneyra
de /amines), all gilt, with the reverses of the leaves in red
and blue, the images that are on the pillars are stags
and other animals, they are painted in colours with the
pink on their faces ; but the other images seated on the
elephants, as W’ell as those on the panels, are all dancing
women having little drums (tom-toms).

The designs of these panels show the positions at
the ends of dances in such a way that on each panel
there is a dancer in the proper position at the end of
the dance ; this is to teach the women, so that if they
forget the position in which they have to remain when
the dance is doue, they may look at one of the panels
where is the end of that dance. By that they keep in
mind what they have to do.

At the end of this house on the left hand is a
painted recess where the women cling on with their
hands in order better to stretch and loosen their bodies
and legs ; there they teach them to make the whole
body supple, in order to make their dancing more
graceful- At the other end, on the right, in the place
where the king places himself to watch them dancing,
all the doors and walls where he sits are covered \/ith
gold, and in the middle of the wall is a golden image
of a woman of the size of Ji girl of twelve years, with
her arms in the position which she occupies in the end
of a dance.

They did not show us more than this. The resi-
dence of the women no one ma> see except the
eunuchs, of whom I have already told you. From
here we returned by the way we had entered to the
second gate, and there they again counted us.

ago

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

Of the city of Bisnaga they say that there are
more than a hundred thousand dwelling-ht>uses in it,
all one-storeyed and flat-roofed, to each of which there
is a low surrounding wall, and in this city the king
lives most of the time. On the north side are rocky
hills ; a river runs between them, and the wall runs
along the top of them, ami on the farther side is a
city called Nagumdym ; and it has only three gates,
namely one by the river, which they cross in- boats
embarking just at this gate;^ one on the other side
which is to the north, this is a stronger gate ; and
one on the north-west side, a little gate between two
very high ridges ; and it is such a bad road that only
one horseman can pass out a time.

And on the north-west side (of Bisnaga) is another
city called Crisnapor “ connected with Bisnaga, in which
are all their pagodas, those in which thvy most worship,
and all the revenue of this city is granted to them ; and
they say that they have a revenue of hundred thou-
sand pafdaos of gold. The piigodas arc high and
have great buildings with many figures of men and
women, all in lascivious attitudes.

On the south side is the other city called Nagalapor
in a plain ; in it the Ydalciio stopped with all his forces
when he besieged Bisnaga, and he razed it to the
ground ; but already it is again rebuilr, ar.d this is a
league from Bisnaga.*

On the east side is another ci,.y called Ardegema,*
which is the name of the principal wife of this king, and
it is new, and he built it for love of her.

* Tbc gate *titl exist* opposite the Anegundi feAy.

* Km 3 bn 4 pui», wliere are the min* of a fime icmpte.

* It seem* clear tbi* sentence mi st be interpolated, and petbaps also
the whole of the last four pw^raphs. For the penultintate sentence oanld
not- have formed part of the ordinal cbronickt of Paes, written perhaps in
r$33, or thereabouts, a* it re fer * to an event tbsf took place is tS3S~'3'^

* Elsewhere called ** Oadegenrta-** It# other name was It fe

the modem Hospett. {See below, Ntmis, p. 387.)

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

(WRITTEN, PROBABLY, a.d. 1535-37)

CHAPTER I

Copy and Summary of a Chronicle of the Kings of jBisnaga, mho reigned
(orig, mere) from the era one thousand tmo hundred and ihirfy^
mhich mas after the general destruction of the kingdom of JBisnagai^

In the year twelve hundred and thirty® these parts of
India were ruled by a greater monarch than had ever
reigned. This was the King of Oili,® who by force of
arms and soldiers made war on Cambaya for many
years^ taking and destroying in that period the land of
Guzarate which belongs to Cambaya,^ and in the end
he became its lord-

And this taken, not being content with the victory
which he had already gained, he made ready a large
army of foot and horse, and determined to make war on
the King of Bisnaga, leaving his captains in his lands
and fortresses to defend themselves against his enemies,
of whom there were many ; for this King® was at that time
at war with Bemgalla, and with the Turkomans on the
confilites of the co untry of Sheikh IsmaeL^ Xhese
men are fair and larg^e of body ; in their lands are

* This ** general destruction ” evidently refers to the cxinquest of Anegxmdi
by Muhammad Taghlaq.

* (See above, j/* 8-) The date should be about 1330. Nuniz was here
about a century wrong,

^ Delhi,

** A common error with the foreigners. Properly speaking it was Cai.abaya
which bdlonged to Gujarat.

* Muhammad Taghlaq of Delhi*

® Persia (above, p, xo).

293

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

many ht>rses with which this Kin^^ of Delly made war
on Cambaya and laici it w.iste ; and after tlie country
was taken anti he lord of it, therti still remained to
him as many as eii^ht hiimln-d thousand horsemen
with wiiom he passetl on to liisna<>a ; of the number
of people on foot nuthint^ is said here because no one
counted titem.

And, determininij u> make war an the KiniJ of
Bisnaj^a and to reduce him under his rule, he passed
out of the lands which he had newly trained, entering
into those of the King of Bisnaga, which at that time
W'ere many ; and quitting the kingdom of Cambaya, he
began to invade and make war tm the Ballagatc,* whose
lands now belong to the Idiilcilo," taking and d<;stroying
many towns and places in such a w'ay that the people
of the country surrendered to him their persons and
property, though he left tt) them theii weapons which
he could not prevent their carrying.

And after he had become lord of all the country
of the Ballagate, he passed the river of l>uree,'’ which
forms the boundary of the territories of the Ballagate
and of those of the King of Bisnaga, which river he
passed in basket-boats without finding smy one to
oppose the passage. Up to thiit time, in all that
w'as (afterwards) the kingdom of Bisn:tga, nt> place
was populated save only the city of Nagumdym,'* in
which the King of Bisnaga* then was, awaiting his

* i.e. the BAI.'tghAt, or country above the gh.ns. " The high land on the
top is very flaite and good to build uptrn, catled BaHagatie and Ueran, and
is inhabited and divided among diver* king* and governors ” (Linschoien,
i. 65). Correa divide* this part of India into ** lUsnega, Balagaie, and
Cambay."

* This is the Portuguese rendering of the Ai.. t Koiln, or Adil Shfth of
Bijapiir. ** Idalxa” represent* the latter title.

* 'JThe description applies best to the Malprahha Riter, and perhaps
“ Ehiree " represents Dharwar,

* Anegundi.

* He was at that time only chief or king of Anegoodi, Vijayanagar not
having been yet founded.

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

293

destruction, since it was strong, and because he pos-
sessed no other citadel but that, which was his
Lisbon.

And from the river which that King of Delly passed
in basket-boats,^ to that city was twenty-five leagues,
all being open country (campos) \ and in them it seemed
good to him to pitch his camp, so that his people might
drink of the water in the plain i^canipos) along the length
of the river. At that time there was great drought by
reason of the summer season, and the waters of the few
little lakes that were in the plain would not sufifice tor
ten days for his troops, horses, and elephants, without
drying up ; and for that reason he halted some days
by the banks of that river, till rain fell in the fields
and lakes, enough for such a large army as he had
brought with him.

And when die time came he rai.sed his camp and
brought his array to a halt in sight of that city of
Nagundy.

And the King of Bisnaga, seeing his great power
and how mtiny troops he had brought with him,
determined to ahand<m the city, which was very diffi-
cult to enter ; close to which was, and now is, a river
which is called Nagundy, whence the city is called
Nagundy, and they say’’ the city had its name because
of it. An 1 he tied for shelter to a fortress called
Crynamata,“ which was by the bank of the * ter, and
which contained much provision and water ; but not
enough for the su.stenance of so many people as he
had with him, as many as fifty thousand men. There-
fore the King chose five thousand men with their
property and took refuge in the fortress ; and for the

* These Ijassket-boats are described by Faes (see above, p. 5^59)-

^ I have not been able to identify this name. It is passible that the
first syllable represents the word Sri^ and that the whole may have been
a special appellation of the upper fortress or citadel,^ on the rocky heig^hts
above the town of AnegundL

2 94

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

rest he bade them betake themselves to anotlrer fortress
of his in another part of his kingdom.

And being sheltered in the fortress, after he had
taken order about his provisions, he was beset on ail
sides by the King of the people of Dely, who liad already
up to this time been at war with him ^ for twelve
years ; over which siege little time v/as spent, because
the people that were inside the fortress w’ere numerous,
and in a little space had consumed their provisions.

Then the King of Bisnaga, seeing the determination
of the soldiers of the King of Delly that they would
never leave the place without making an end of those
whom he had with him in the fortress, made a speech
to them all, laying before them the destruction that
the King of the troops of Dely had caused in his own
kingdoms ; ^ and how, not content with that, he had
besieged this fortress, so that now there was nothing for
them to look to but death, since already there was no
water in the fortress nor anything left to eat. And (he
said) that of the fifty thousand men who had been in
the city of Nagundy he had chosen them alone as his
companions and true friends, and he begged of them
that they would hold fast in death to the loyalty which
they had borne him in their lives ; for he hoped that
day to give battle to the King of Delly. Then he said
that already there remained to him of his kingdom
and lordship nothing but that fortress and the people
that were in it, and so he asked them to arm themselves
and die with him in battle, giving their lives to the
enemy who had deprived them of all their lands.

* There had Seen no special war with Ane/jundi that we know of ; but
the Rfijah of that place had ver> possibly been directly affected by, if ntrt
actually engaged in, the wars between the Hindu lioysala Ball&Ia* tbe
ralers of Warangal and Gujarftt on the one hand, and the MuhammiMlan
invaders frona Delhi on the other.

See Introduction, p. 13. “His kingdoms ” (irwr refer* to the

temtones of Muhammad Taghiaq, whose barbarities had resulted in thf
wasting and depopulation of large tracts.

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ 295

All of them were very content and glad at this,
and in a short space were all armed ; and after they
were so the ICing made them another speech, saying,
iJeiore we join battle we have to wage another war
v/ith our sons and tlaughters and wives, for it will not
be gO( >tl that w^e should allow them to be taken for the
use of our encmic*s." And the King said, "I will be
the first to deal with my wife and sons.” At this time
they were all standing in a large open space which was
before tlic citadel, and there by the hand of the King
were slain over fifty of his wives and some sons and
little daughters ; and the same was done with their own
hands by all who had wives and sons that could not fight.

When these nuptial feasts, so abhorred of all, were
fulfilled, they opentid the gates of the fortress, and their
enemies forthwith entered, and slew all of them except six
old men who '•vithdrfw to a house. Xhese were made
captive and were taken before the King (of Delhi), and
the King asked them w'ho they were and how they had
escapt'd, and they told them who they were ; at which
the King greatly rejoicctl, bf;cause one of them was the
minister of the kingdom and another the treasurer, and
the others were leading officers in it. They were ques-
tioned by the King conc<‘n)ing the treasures of the King
of Hisnaga, and such ri^.hes as were buried in the vaults
of the fortress wtu'e d<ili\'orfil up to him j they also gave
him an account of the revenues of the kingdom of Bis-
naga at that time. When all was known to the King he
delivered them tts one of his captaiiiS, and commanded
to make over the bodies of the deatl to another captain,
and gave orders that the bodies should be .burned ; and
the body t)f the King, at the request of those six men,
was conveyed very honourably to the city of Nagundy.
From that time forward that place oecame a burying-
place of the kings. Amongst themselves they still wor-
ship this King as a saint.

FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

296

CHAPTER II

Of what the ICing {0/ Pel hi') did after he had slain the King rf JB is naga,
and entirely overthrotvn /urn, and seized his lands for himself none
being left to defend them.

As soon as the King^ had thus fulfilled all his desires,
he bade his captains destroy some villages and towns
which had risen against him, and give security to those
who sought it of him. After the death of the (Hindu) King
he stayed in that fortress two years, having already for
twelve waged war on the kingdom.^ He was far from
his home, which was more than five hundred leagues
distant ; and, his forces being all scattered, news came
to him how that all the land which was first gained by
him had rebelled. As soon as this was known to the
King he .sent to collect his people, leaving in this fortress,
which was the strongest in the kingdom, abundant pro-
visions for its defence in all circum.stances ,* and he left,
for captain and governor of the kingdom, Enybiquy-
melly,* a Moor, and with him he left many troops, show-
ing much kindness to each one of them separately, giving
to each lavish gifts and lands in sucli a way that all were
content, and, abandoning forthwith all hope of returning
to their own country, made there their homes.

CHAPTEk IH

Kow the King of Pily departed with his irwps, and took to his kingdom
the six ra^ttx'es that he had taken in the fortress.

The King having departed to his own kingdom in con-
sequence of the news that had been brought to him,
leaving the kingdom of Bisnaga in the power of Meli-

* See above^ p. 294,^ note

Spelt below “ Mehquy nii>y'’ and “ Mileque neby;” evidently for

IVaid^ the king deputy.

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

297

quy niby, when it was known throughout the country how
he was out of it, those who had escaped to the moun'-
tains, with others who, against their will and through
fear had taken oaths of fealty for their towns and
villages, rose against the captain Mileque neby, and came
to besiege him in the fortress, allowing no provisions to
go in to him, nor paying him the taxes that had been
forced on them. And Meliquy niby, seeing how little
profit he could get in this country, and how badly he
was ob<*) ed, and how far off was the succour sent by
his lord the King, sent quickly to him to tell him how
all the land was risen against him, and how every one
was lord <jf what he j^leased, and no one was on his
side; and that His Highness should decide what he
thought best u> be done in such case. And when the
King heard this news he took counsel, telling the great
people of the lualm of the letter and message which he
had from Melincbiquy, his captain and governor of the
kingdom of Bisnaga, and how badly the lords of the
land ob<-yed him ; so that each one was king and lord
over whomsoever he pleased, as soon as he acquired any
power, there being no justice amongst them, nor any one
whom they wished to obey. What was it seemed best
to them (he asked), and what in such case ought they,
and could they, do, so that he should not lose so fair a
territory rnd one so rich, the seizure of which had cost
such labotir, much money, and the lives of so many
of their fellows ? .All the councillors decided that the
King should command the presence of the six men
whom he held captive, and that he should learn from
them who was at that time the nearest of kin, or in any
way related io the Kings of Bisnaga ; and, this question-
ing done, no one was found to whom by right the king-
dom could come, save to one of the six whom he held
captive, and this one he who at the time of the destruc-
tion of Bisnaga had been ministen of the kingdom. He

298

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

was not related by blood to the kings, but only was the
principal judge ; but (it seemed) good that His Highness
should give the kingdom to that one. And this advice
pleased the King and them all.

At once the six captives were released and set at
liberty, and many kindnesses and honours were done
them, and the governor was raised to be King and the
treasurer to be governor ; ^ and he took from them oaths
and pledges of their fealty as vassals ; and they were at
once despatched and sent to their lands with a large
following to defend them from any one who should
desire to do them an injury. And when these six men
had thus finished their journey to the city of Nagundy,
they found only the ruined basements of the houses, and
places peopled by a few poor folk.

In a short tirhe the arrival of Deori.o ® (for so he was
called) was known in all the country, and how he had
been exalted to be King, with which the people were
well content, as men who had felt so deeply their sub-
jection to a lord not of their own faith ; and from this
man have descended all those who have reigned up
to now. And they made great feasts for him, and
delivered up to him the lands taken by former kings
and lost to them, and he was obeyed as King. And
when the captain Meliquy niby became aware of this, he
was very pleased and contented, and delivered up to
him the fortress and kingdom as the King his lord had
commanded ; and making himself rt idy with all speed
he departed, leaving the land to its proper owner-
And after he had gone, King Deordo, entering on his
rule, strove to pacify the people and those who had

^ Above, p. 10 0:

Deva R^ya. This vvas the g*eneral title of the Vijayaragar kings 1

thus, Hanhara Deva Raya, Bufcka Deva RSya, Krishna Deva Ril>a, &c.
This first kinjf is given no personal name by Nuni*. There were afterwards
two kings who are known to history by the names Deva RAya I. and Deva
RAya II., with no personal name prefixed.

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ 299

revolted, and to make them safe, and he did them
many kindnesses so as to secure their g-ood-will, and
travelled about their fortresses and towns. He aban-
doned the lost lands since he knew that he could not
regain them, having no army or ff^rces for such a work,
nor any c<ause for which he could make war , and also
because he was very old.

CHAPTER IV

Iltrtv ihe City of Btsnay;a was built by that King JDehordo,

The King going one day a-hunting, as was often his
wont, to a mountain on the other side of the river of
Nagumdym, where now is the city of Bisnaga, — which
at that time was a desert place in which much hunting
took place, and which the King had reserved for his own
amusement, — being in it with his dogs and appurtenances
of the chase, a hare r<jse up before him, which, instead of
fleeing from the dogs, ran towards them and bit them
all, so that none of them dared go near it for the harm
that it did themd And seeing this, the King, astonished
at so feeble a thing biting dogs which had already
caught for him a tiger and a lion, judged it to be not
really a hare but (more likely) some prodigy ; and he at
once turned back to the city of Nagumdym.

And arriving at the river, he met a hermit who was
walking along the b;i.nk, a man holy among them, to
whom he told what had happtmed concerning the hare.
And the hermit, wondering at it, said to the King that
he should turn back with him and shew him the place
where so marvellous a thing had happened ; and being

* This ^ tale !■> told of many kinxtf and chiefs in Southern India.
The ‘'Tazkas.ii ul-Muluk” (/« /. Ant., May 1899, p. 1=9) a.so relates it of
the Eahmani Sultan Ahnvad Shah (1423-35), alleg-ing- that it was the be-
haviour of a hunted hare that induced him to make Bidar his capital.

300

A I'OjKOUI/Jt.XV H.MLt'lKJi.

there, the hermit said that the Kingf ought in that place
to erect houses in which he could dwell, and build
a city, for the prodigy meant that this would be the
strongest city in the world, and that it would never be
captured by his enemies, and would be the chief city in
the kingdom. And so the King did, and on that very
day began work on his houses, and he enclosed the city
round about ; and that done he left Nagumdym and
soon filled the new city with people- And he gave it
the name Vydiajuna, for so the hermit called himself^
who had bidden him construct it ; but in course of time
this name has become corrupted, and it is now called
Bisnaga. And after that hermit was dead the King
raised a very grand temple ® in honour of him and gave
much revenue to it. And ever since, in his memory,
the Kings of Bisnaga, on the day when they are rats
to be kings, have, in honour of the hermit, to ent
this house before they enter their own ; and they ofl
many prayers in it, and celebrate many feasts the
every year.

This King Dehorao reigned seven years, and d
nothing therein but pacify the kingdom, which he I<
in complete tranquillity.

By his death one called Bucardo® inherited ti
'kingdom, and he conquered many lands which at t)
time of the destruction of that kingdom remained reb«
lious, and by him they were taken and turned to f
power and lordship ; and he took the kingdom of Ory
which is very great ; it touches on Bemgalla. He reign<
thirty-seven years, being not less feared than esteeme
and obeyed by all in his kingdom.

On the death of that King Bucardo there came

^ This was the great Sringfiri Guru, MdLdhavllchS.rya, surnan.ed
ranya, or “ F orest of Learning.” This derivation of the name of the citj
very common, but is believed to be erroneous.

“ The large temple of Virflpaksha at Hampe.

® Bukka R^ya.

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

301

the throne his son called Pureoyre Deorilo,^ which in
Canara means “ powerful lord,” and he coined a money
of fiardaos which even now they call '‘pu-roure deordo
and from that time forward it has become a custom to
call coins by the narnies of the kings that made them ;
and it is because of this that there are so many names of
pardaos in the kingdom of Bisnaga. And this King in
his time did nothing more than leave at his death as
much conquered country as his father had done.

This King had a son who by his death inherited the
kingdom, who was called Ajarao and he reigned forty-
three years, in which time he was always at war with
the Moors ; and he took Goa, and Chaul, and Dabull,
and Ccillao,^ and all the country of Charamamdell,^
which had also rebelled after the first destruction of this
kingdom, and he did many other things which are not
recorded licrc.

This King made in the city of Bisnaga many walls
and towers and enclosed it anew. Now the city at that
time wa.s of no use, there being no water in it by which
could be raised gardens and orchards, except the water
of the N<igumdym which was far from it, for what water
there was in the country was all brackish and allowed
nothing to grow ; and the King, desiring to increase that
city and make it the best in the kingdom, determined to
bring to it a very large river which was at a distance of
five leagues away, believing that it would cause much
profit if brouerht Inside the city. And so he did, dam-
ming the rivet ttself with great boulders ; and according
to story he threw in a stone so great that it alone made
the river follow the King’s will. It was dragged thither

^ Purmyre probably represents ** Harihara/' This king was not the first
to coin or pagodas. A paKoda of Bukka L is known {Ind. An$.^

XX. 302).

* See above, p. $t^ There is no name amongst those of this dynasty
with which this can be at present connected,

* Ceylon. * Coromandel (note, p. 339 above).

302

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

by a number of elephants of which there are many in
the kingdom ; and the water so brought he carried
through such parts of the city as he pleased. This
water proved of such use to the city that it increased
his revenue by more than three hundred and fifty
thousand pardaos. By means of this w^ater they made
round about the city a quantity of gardens and orchards
and great groves of trees and vineyards, of which this
country has many, and many plantations of lemons and
oranges and roses, and other trees which in this country
bear very good fruit. But on this turning of the river
they say the King spent all the treasure that had come
to him from the king his father, which was a very great
sum of money.

This King left a son at his death called Visardo,^ who
inherited the kingdom on the death of his father ; and
he lived six years, and during this time uia nothing
worth relating.

At his death he left a son called Deordo, who
reigned twenty-five years. He determined to collect
great treasures, but owing to constant warfare he could
not gain more than eight hundred and fifty millions of
gold, not counting precious stones. This was no great
sum, seeing that in his time the King of Coulldo/"* and
Ceyllao, and Paleacate,® and Peguu, and Tana^ary ‘ and
many other countries, paid tribute to him.

At his death this King left a son who inherited the
kingdom, who was called Pinardo,* he reigned twelve
years, and was a great astrologer ; he was given much
to letters, and made many books and (promulgated)
ordinances in his land and kingdom. As long as he

» t'ljaya Rao. ® Quilon.

® Puhcat, near Madras This was an importani province of ''^^ijayanag^ar
in later years. * Tenassenro.

» rina=^C>.-nna in Telugu, Ckikka in Kanarese, and means “little."
Pma Raya or Chikka R 4 ya was the title applied to the Cronn Prince (above,
p. 223). The derivation given by Nuniz is plainly wrong.

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ 303

reigned he had twenty ministers, which is an office
that amongst these (people) is (generally) held only by
one person. This King was very wise ; he was well
versed in all his duties, and possessed such good
talents and qualities that they called him Pinardo, which
amongst them, in the language of Canara, means a very
wise man. This King was killed by treason by the hand
of a nephew whom he had brought up in his house like
a son, who thus caused the death of the King.^ The
nephew resolved to rharry, and for the feasts at his
wedding he prayed the King, his uncle, that he would
command that he should be attended and honoured at
his wedding by the King’s own son ; and the King, for
the love that he bore him and the pleasure that he had
in honouring him, bade his son make ready with his
following, and sent him with the ministers and captains
of his court to attend and honour the wedding of his
nephew. And he, making all ready, as soon as they
were in his house, being at table, they were all slain
by daggers thrust by men kept in readiness for that
deed. This was done without any one suspecting it,
because the custom there is to place on the table all
that there is to eat and drink, no man being present
to serve those who are seated, nor being kept outside,
but only tho.se who are going to eat ; and because of
their thus being alone at table, nothing of what passed
could be known to the people they had brought with
them. And after Le had killed the King’s son with all
the captains, the minister ^ set out to ride as if he were
going to bear a present to the King, and as soon as he
arrived at the gates of the palace he sent a message to
the King saying that he was there, and had brought

* Abdar relates the same story^ and nxes the event as having:

taken place between November 1442 and April 1445 a.d., ‘"while he was
at Calient^* (above^ p, 73)*

* This seems to imply that the nephew of the king had l>een one of the

twenty ministers mentioned in the chronicle*

304

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

him a present according- to custom. And the King,
being at that time at leisure and amusing himself with
his wives, bade him enter ; and as soon as he was come
to where he stood, he presented to the King a golden
bowl in which he had placed a dagger steeped in poison,
with which he wounded him in many places ; but the
King, as he was a man who knew how to use both
sword and dagger better than any one in his kingdom,
avoided by twists and turns of his body the thrusts
aimed at him, freed himself from him, and slew him
with a short sword that he had. And this done he
ordered a horse to be saddled, and mounted it, and
rode holding his nephew’s head in his hand ; and he
took the road to the latter’s house, apprehending that
treason might have been wrought and fe^iring that his
son might be dead. And as soon as he arrived he
beheld the treason in very deed, and how wiCKed a
deed his nephew had done; seeing that his son and
his principal captains were dead, and that the tniitor
might have prevailed against hiniself had he had the
power. In great wrath the King commanded his men
to inflict dreadful punishments on all foumi gtiilty of
this treason, and indeed many who were not so. He
himself remained grievously wounded with the iK>isoned
wounds and he lasted only six month.s, and these ended,
died of the poison carried on the dagger.

After his death a son remained to him wht> inherited
the kingdom and was called . . , \ anti this King, as.
soon as he began to reign, sent to call his treasurers
and the minister and the scribes of his household, and
inquired of them the revenue of his kingdom, and
learned how much revenue came in yca/ly; and His
Highness had every year thirteen millions of gold.
This King granted to the pagodas a fifth part of the
revenue of his kingdom ; no law is possible in the

^ Sic in orig*

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

305

country where these pagodas are, save only the law
of the Brahmans, which is that of the priests ; and so
the people suffer.

On the death of this King succeeded, a son named
Verupacarao.^ As long as he reigned he was given
over to vice, caring for nothing but women, and to
fuddle himself with drink and amuse himself, and
never showed himself either to his captains or to his
people ; so that in a short time he lost that which his
forefathers had w’on and left to him. And the nobles
of the kingdom, seeing the habits and life of this king,
rebelled, every one of them, each holding to what he
possesstid, so that in his time the King lost Goa, and
Chaull, and I^abull, and the other chief lands of the
realm. This King in mere sottishness slew many of
his captains. Because he dreamed one night that one
6f, his v-ctpi..ilns eiit«;reci his chttmber, on the next day
he had him called, telling him that he had dreamed that
night that tht; captain had entered his room to kill him ;
and for that alone he had him put to death. This King
had two son.s already grown up, who, seeing the wicked-
ness of their father and how he had lost his kingdom,
determined to kill him, as in fact was done by one of
them, the eider, who was his heir ; and after he had
killed him, when they besought him to be King, he said,
“ Although thi.s kingdom may be mine by right, I do
not want it because I killed my father, and did therein
that which I ought not to have done, and have com-
mitted a mortal sin, and for that reason it is not well
that such an unworthy son should inherit the kingdom.
Take my brothe*r and let him govern it since he did not
stain his hands with his father’s blood ; ” which was done,
and the younger brother was raised tc%the throne. And
when they had entrusted the kingdom to him he was
advised by his minister and captains that he slBiould .slay

* Vir^ptksha Riya.

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

306

his brother, because, as the latter had killed his fathe«-
so he would kill him if desirous of so doing ; and as it
appeared to the King that such a thing might well be,
he determined to kill him, and this was at once carried
out, and he slew him with his own hand. So that this
man truly met the end that those meet with who do
such ill deeds. This King was called Padeardo ; and
after this was done he gave himself up to the habits
of his father, and, abandoning himself to his women,
and not seeking to know ought regarding his realm savt;
only the vices in which he delighted, he remained for
the most part in the city.

One of his captains who was called Narsymgua,^ wh<j
was in some manner akin to him, seeing his mode of iif<*,
and knowing how ill it was for the kingdom that hr,
should live and reign, though all was not yet lost, de-
termined to attack him and seize on his lands ; wh'cti
scheme he at once put into force.

He wrote, therefore, and addressed the captains and
chiefs of the kingdom, saying how bad it was for them
not to have a King over them who could govern pro-
perly, and how it would be no wonder, seeing the
manner of his life, if the King soon lost by his bad
government even more than his father had done.

He made great presents to all of them so as to gain
their goodwill, and when he had thus attc^ched many
people to himself he made ready to attack Bisnaga
where the King dwelt. When t!,e King was told of
the uprising of this captain Narsymgua, how he was
approaching and seizing his lands and how many people
were joining him, he seemed unmindful of the loss he
had suffered, he gave no heed to it ndr made ready,
but, instead, he caly ill-treated him who had Jbrought the

* Narastf/iAa. He had apparently large tract* of country under his
charge to the east of the capital towards the east coast. His relationship
to the sovereign has always been a matter of doubt.

CHRONICLE or EERNAO NUNIZ

307

news. So that a captain of the army of this Narsymgua
arrived at the gates of Bisnaga, and there was not a
single man defending the place ; and when the King
was told of his arrival he only said that it could not
be. Then the captain entered the city, and the King
only said that it could not be. Then he even entered
his palace and came as far as the doors of his chamber,
slaying some of the women. At last the King believed,
and seeing now how great was the danger, he resolved
to flee by the gates on the other side ; and so he left his
city and palaces, and fled.

When it was known by the captain that the King
had fled he did not trouble to go after him, but took
possession of the city and of the treasures which he
found there; and he sent to acquaint his lord, Narsymgua.
And after that Narsymgua was raised to be king. And
as he hetJ niuch power and was beloved by the people,
thenceforward this kingdom of Bisnaga was called the
kingdom of Narsymga.

After he was raised to be king and was obeyed hd
came to Bisnaga, where he did many acts of justice ;
and he took the territories from whomsoever had, con-
trary to right, taken them from the king. This King
reigned forty-four years, and at his death left all the
kingdom in peace, and he regained all the lands which
the kings his predecessors had lost. He caused horses
to be brought from Oromuz and Adeem ^ into his king-
dom and thereby gave great profit to the merchants,
paying them for the horses just as they asked. He
took them dead or alive at three for a thousand
daos, and of those that died at sea they brought him
the tail only, and he paid for it just as if it had been
alive-

At the death of that King there remained three for-
tresses which had revolted from his rule, and which
» Persia (Ormuai!) and Aden. The latter were Arabs.

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

308

he was never able to take, which were these — Rachol,
and Odegary and Conadolgi,^ which have laige and rich
territories and are the principal forts in the kingdom.
At his death he left two sons, and the governor of the
kingdom was Nasenaque, who was father of the king
that afterwards was king of Bisnaga ; " and this king
(Narsymgua), before he died, sent to call Narsenaque
his minister, and held converse with him, telling him
that at bis death he would by testament leave him to
govern the kingdom until the princes should be of an
age to rule ; also he said that all the royal treasures
were his alone, and he reminded him that he had won
this kingdom of Narsymgua at the point of the sword ;
adding that now there remained only three fortresses to
be taken, but that for him the time for their capture
was passed ; and the King begged him to keep good
guard over the kingdom and to deliver it up to the
princes, to whichever of them should prove himself
most fitted for it. And after the King’s death this
Narsenaque remained as governor, and soon he raised
up the prince to be king, retaining in his own hands
the treasures and revenues and the government of the
country.

At that time a captain who wished him ill, deter-
mined to kill the prince, with a view afterwards to say
that Narsenaque had bidden him commit the murder,
he being the minister to whom the government of the
kingdom had been entrusted, and he thought that for
this act of treason Narsenaque would be put to death.
And he soon so arranged it that the prince was killed
one night by one of his pages who had been bribed

u »' “ Odeg-ary ” represents. Udayagiri ; “ Conadolgri "

probably is Kondavid, for a monntam fortress.

1 ^ account of the second Narasa and the family relationship differs
altogether from the results obtained from epigraphtcal study, according to

Krishna Deva bem^ the latter*® younger son.

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

309

for that purpose, and who slew the prince with a sword.
As soon as Narsenaque heard that he was dead, and
learned that he himself (was supposed to have) sent to
kill him, he raised up another brother of the late King’s
to be king, not being able further to punish this captain,
because he had many relations, until after he had raised
this younger brother to be king, who was called Xamarao.
He (Narsenaque) went out one day from the city of
Bisnaga towards Nagumdym, saying that he was going
hunting, leaving all his household in the city. And
after he had arrived at this city of Nagumdym he
betook himself to another called Penagumdim,^ which
is four-and-twenty leagues from that place, where he
at once made ready large forces and many horses and
elephants, and then sent to tell the King Tamarao of
the cause of his going ; relating to him the treason that
that captain by name Tymarsaa'-' had carried out slaying
his brother the king, and by whose death he (the
prince) had inherited the kingdom. He told him how
that the kingdom had been entrusted to him by his father,
as well as the care of himself and his brother, that as
this man had killed his brother, so he would do to him
in the same way, for he was a traitor ; and he urged
that for that reason it was necessary to punish him.
But the king at that time was very fond of that captain,
since by reason of him he had become King, and in
place of punishing him he bestowed favour on him
and took his part against the minister. And, seeing this,
Narsenaque went against him with large forces, and
besieged him, threatening him for four or five days,
until the King, seeing his determination, commanded
Timarsaa to be put to death ; after which he (the
King) sent the (traitor's) head to be shown to the mini-
ster, who greatly rejoiced. Narsenaque sent away all
Fcaiiakoiida.

• ** p* 58 50* axid ttote- This, however, was not the mmn

timm mUniiedi to, thon^^h he boj:e? the same name.

310

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

the troops and entered the city, where he was very
well received by all the people, by whom he v'as much
loved as being- a man of much justice.

And after some days and years had passed, Nar-
senaque, seeing the age of the king how young he was,
determined to keep him in the city of Penagumdy,
with large guards to make safe his person, and to give
him 20,000 cruzados of gold every year for his food
and expenses, and himself to govern the kingdom —
for it had been entrusted to him by the king his lord
so to do. After this had been done he told the K.ing
that he desired to go to Bisnaga to do certain things
that would tend to the benefit of the kingdom, and
the King, pleased at that, told him that so it should be ;
thinking that now he himself would be more his own
master and not be so liable to be checked by him.
And after he had departed and' arrived at Bisnaga,
Narsenaque sent the King 20,000 men for his guard, as
he had arranged, and he sent as their captain Tima-
panarque, a man in whom he much confided ; (com-
manding him) that he should not allow the King to
leave the city, and that he should carefully guard his
person against treachery.

And after this was done Nansenaque began to make
war on several places, taking them and demolishing
them because they had revolted. At that tmie it was
proposed by some captains that they should kill the
King, as he was not a man fitted to govern, but to this
Narsenaque would answer nothing. After .some days
had pas.sed, however, Narsenaque, pondering cm the
treason about which they had spoken to him, how it
would increase his greatness and more easily make him
lord of the kingdom of which he was (only) minister,
called one day those same captains who had oftcm pro-
posed it to him, and asked them by what means the
King could be slain without its being known that he

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

311

had had a hand in his death. Then one man ^ told
him that a very goo^ way would be that he (the mini-
ster) should appear to be annoyed with him and should
send to c{^mmand his presence, which mandate he would
not obey, and on account of this act of disrespect he
(the minister) should ordain that some punishment be
inflicted, and at this aggravation he w'ould leave the
city and fly to Penagundy to- stir up the King against
the minister. He said that after he had gained the
goodwill of the King he would so plot against him that
he would render him disobedient ; and that to give the
King greater encouragement he would forge letters as if
from capttiins which should contain the same counsel —
namely, that he should leave that city where he was
more prisoner than free — and would point out to him that
he alone was king and lord, and yet that the land v/as
uii.d<.*r the power of Narasenaque his vassal, who had
matle himsidf very strong and powerful in the kingdom
an<I h<;ld him (the King) prisoner, and had rebelled.
He would urge the King to secretly quit the city and be-
take. hiiaseli to a f<jrtress belonging to the captain who
had .sent him that letter, and that the.re he should prepare
himself, getting together a large following. And he
would tell him that when the lords and captains came
to know of his wish aiul determination they would act
according to it, anti would help him, and would come
with him to fall u[Jon Narsenayque, and would bestow
upon him (Narst'naque) the prison in which he (the
King) was nti-w kept. So he would be king (The
captain further said) that after he had persuaded the
King to this he would cause him to (leave the city), and
while going out he would kill him, and that in this
way Niirsenatpie should become king.

Narsenaytjue was well pleased to listen to this treason
and to hear of the evil deed which this captain planned,
‘ Later on we !eam that this man’s name was Codcrncrade (p. 360).

3 **

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

and he showed him much favour. The captain dis-
appeared after some days from where Narsenayque
was, feigning to have fled ; and he came to Pena-
gumdy, where in a few days his arrival was known ;
and he set about and put in hand ail those things that
had been arranged. Every day he showed the King a
letter, one day from a captain of one fortress, the next
day another from another captain ; and the King, under-
standing the plots contained in the letters so shown,
replied that the counsel and advice seemed good, and yet
how could he resist the power of Narsenayque, who,
besides being minister of the kingdom, had (possession
of) all the horses and elephants and treasure, so that
he could at once make war against him? "True it
is, Sire, that which thou sayest,” answered the traitor,
“and yet he is much misliked by all the captains who
raised thee to be king, and as soon as they shall see
thee in Chaodagary ” ^ (which was a fortress whither
he had advised him to flee, being one which up to
that time was independent), “all will flock to thine
aid, since they esteem it a just cause.” Said the King, —
“ Since this is so, how dost thou propose that I should
leave this place, so that my going should not be
known to the guards and to the 20,000 men who sur-
round me in this city?” “Sire,” he replied, “I will dis-
close to thee a very good plan ; thou and I will go
forth by this thy garden, and from thence by a postern
gate which is in the city (wall), and hich I know well;
and the guards, seeing thee alone without any follow-
ing, will not know that it is thou, the King, and thus we
shall pass to the outside of the city, where I will have
horses ready that will take us whithersoever it seemeth
good to thee.” Al! this pleased the King wefl, and he
placed everything in his hands ; and, seeing fulfilled
all his desire, the captain spoke with those men who
' Chandragiri, the capital of the kingdom In Its decadent days.

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NVNIZ

313

guarded that part of the garden by which he wished
that the King should fly, and which was near the King’s
own houses, (for into this garden the King often went
to amuse himself with his wives, which garden was
at that part guarded by a matter of 300 armed men)
and to these men he spoke thus, saying to them : — “ If
ye shall happen to see me pass by here on such a night
and at such an hour, and if ye shall see a man coming
with me, slay him, for he well deserves it of me, and
I will reward ye ; ” and they all said that that would
be a very small service to do for him. When that
day had passed the traitor went to the King and said
to him: — “Sire, do not put off tilKto-morrow that
which thou hast to do to-day ; for I have the horses
ready for thy escape, and have planned so to escort
thee forth that even thy ladies shall not be aware of
tl?y departure, nor any other person. Come, Sire, to
the garden, where I will await thee.” The King replied
that his words were good and so he would do, and aS
soon as night was come and the hour arrived, the King
went carefully out, and still more careful was he who
for some time had awaited him ; and he gave signal to
the armed men, and as soon as he was come to the
garden lie passed between two of them who were
the guard.s, and they threw themselves on the King
and slew him, and forthwith buried him at the foot of
a tree in the same garden. And this being accom-
•plished without their knowing whom they had slain,
the traitor gave them his thanks, and returned to his
inn to make ready to leave the city, and also so as not
to give cause for talk therein. And the next morning
it was found that the King was missing; and though
searched for throughout all the city no news of him
could be heard, all the people thinking that he had
fled somewhere, whence he would make war on Nar-
senayque. And to Narsenayque the news was straight-

3*4

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

way brought, and he, feigning much sorrow at it, yet
made ready all his horses and elephants in case the
kingdom should be plunged into some revolution by the
death of the king; although as yet he knew not fta
certain how the matter stood, save that the Kinjr had
disappeared. And afterwards the man came who had
killed the King, and told him how it had been dout
and how secretly he had been slain, so that even tfic
very men who had killed him knew not who ;t w j'i ;
and Narsenayque bestowed upon him rich reward. And
since there was no news of the King, and he holding
everything now under his hand, he was raised to be
king over all the land of Narsymga.

And this king left at his death five sons, one was
called Busbalrao, and another Crismarao, and another
Tetarao, and another Ramygupa and another Ouamy-
syuayad

And this Busbalrao inherited the kingdom at the
death of his father Narsenayque and reigned six years,
during which he was always at war, for as soon as his
father was dead the whole land revolted under its cap-
tains ; who in a short time were destroyed by that King,
and their lands taken and reduced under his rule. Dur-
ing these six years the King spent, in restoring the
country to its former condition, eight million gold par~
daos. This King died of his sickness in the city of
Bisnaga ; and before he died he sent for Salvatimya, his
minister,® and commanded to be br >ught to him his (the
King’s) son. eight years old, and said to Sallvatina that
as soon as he was dead he must raise up this son to be

^ Inscriptions do not give us the names of any sons having names like
these. “Cnsmarao" probably represents Krishna Dev a son of the

first Narasa or Narasimha, and brother of the second Narasa^ often called
Vtra Narasimha.

^ Si.Iuva Timma* This man belonged apparently to the new royal
family, whose family name was S^luvsu He was the powerful muustcr of
Krishna Deva Kdya, but died disgraced, imprisoned, and blinded. He is
constantly mentioned in inscription;:? of the period.

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ 315

king (though he was not of an age for that, and though
the kingdom ought perhaps to belong to his brother
Crisnarao) and that he must put out the eyes of the
latter and must bring them to show him ; in order that
after his death there should be no differences in the
kingdom. Salvatina said that he would do so and
departed, and sent to call for Crisnarao, and took him
aside to a stable, and told him how his brother had
bade him put out his eyes and make his son king.
When he heard this, Crisnarao said that he did not
seek to be king, nor to be anything in the kingdom,
even thrmgh it should come to him by right ; that his
desire was to pass through this world as a jo^i (ascetic,
recluse), and that he should not put his eyes out, seeing
that he had not deserved that of his brother. Sallva-
tina. hearing this, and seeing that Crisnarao was a man
of over twenty years and therefore more fit to be king,
as you will see farther on, than the son of Busbalrao
who was only eight years old, commanded to bring a
she-goat, and he put out its eyes, tind took them to
show the King, for already he was at the last hour of
his life ; and he presented them to him, and as soon
as the King was dead his brother Crisnarao was raised
to be king, whose eyes the late King had ordered to be
torn out.

CHAPTER V

Of the things done by King Crisnarao after he mas raised to

the throne.

As soon as Crisnarao was raised to be King and was
obeyed throughout all his kingdom, — Salvatine being
his minister, who had been the sane for his brother
Busbalrao,^ — he without delay sent his nephew, son of

^ Perhaps “Basava RS-ya,” but as yet no brosber of Krishna Dt-va
known bearing that name.

3*6

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

Busbalrao his brother, together with his own three
brothers, to a fortress called Chaodegary ; the nephew
remained there till he died. And after the King had done
this for his own safety he stayed in the city of Bisnaga
for a year and a half without going outside of it, learn-
ing the affairs of the kingdom and looking at the testa-
ments of past kings. Amongst these he found one of
king Narsymga, whose minister his father Narsenayque
had been, in which that King desired that his sons,
or whoever should inherit this kingdom of Narsymga
which he had gained by force of arms, should capture
three fortresses that at his death remained in revolt
against him, the which he had not himself taken because
time failed him ; one of them was called Rracholl,^ and
another Medegulla.®

Crisnarao, seeing this testament and seeing how badly
the kings his predecessors had acted in what had been
enjoined on them, determined at once to prepare armies
and to go against these places ; and one of these for-
tresses was called Odigair, and it belonged to the King
of Orya. And, determining to go first against this, he
collected (an army of) thirty-four thousand foot and eight
hundred elephants, and arrived with this force at the
city of Digary,® in which there were ten thousand foot
soldiers and four hundred horse ; for the fortress had
no necessity for more by reason of its great strength,
because it could not be taken except by being starved
out.

And the King laid siege to it for a year and a half,
in which time he made many paths across rocky hills,
breaking up many great boulders in order to make a
road for his soldiers to approach the towers of the
fortress. The p^ace at this time was so strong that
they could not approach it except by one way which
was so narrow that men could only pass along it one

^ Rstichur.

Mudkal

® Udayagiri.

J. JL^JL\.JLlfjr3i.K^ J.yUUjt.YJL^

/

at a time ; and in this place he made a broad road, and
many others also, So that he could come close to the
fortress.

And he took it by force of arms, and in it captured
an aunt * of the of Orya, who was taken captive

and carried oF with all the courtesy that he could show
her, having her liberty ; and he took her along with
himself.

And after this was done he called Salvatinya and
bade him see how well he had performed that which
king Narsymga had by his testament enjoined on him,
and yet he said he was not content with such a trivial
victory, for ~ he desired to go forward a hundred leagues
into the kingdom of Orya; and he ordered him to make
ready provisions and pay fully the salaries of the forces.

Ami aftt'r this fortress was taken he departed and
went again.st Comdovy,® which was one of the principal
cities of the kingdom of Orya, and besieged it ; and,
learning this, the King of Orya came against him to de-
fend his territories, and brought with him one thousand
three hundred elephants, and twenty thousand horse-
men, and he brought five hundred thousand foot-soldiers,
Crisnarao, being aware of the approach of the king of
Orya, left the city without assaulting it, saying that he
preferred ti> tight the King in person and his army rather
than to attack the city, and that there would be plenty
of time atterwards to take it ; and he went forward four
leagues from it, k iving a force to prevent the escape of
the people from the city if they should seek to flee to
the coast. And he arrived at a large river of salt water
crossed by a ford,'* and on the other side of the river

^ Some say uncle.

* 1b the MS- €m avia is evidently a mista'.e for e qvt avia.

* Kondavid*

^ I cannot identify this rivet- There is none such, to i-iy knowledge,
twelve miles or thereabouts from Kondavfd- ** Salt ” ' may perhaps mean
brackish-

320

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

And when the son of the King of Orya saw him,
being offended with the King for sending a man to
fight with him who was not the son of a King but
only a man of humble birth, he cried out to the King : —
“ God forbid that I should soil my hands by touch-
ing a man not of the "blood royal,” and saying this
he slew himself. And his father, hearing how his
son wa.’ dead, wrote to Salvatinea (asking) by what
means he could ransom his wife who remained in
the power of the King, since his son was dead ; to
which he made answer that he should arrange the
marriage of his daughter with the King, and that
afterv/ards the King would restore him his wife and
lands (or, would take only his lands). ^ This coun.sel
he accepted, and he sent ambassadors to Bisnaga to
arrange a marriage with his daughter, with which
King Crisnarao was well content ; and w'hen the
King of Orya knew his will (in the matter) he sent
him his daughter ; and with the coming of her they
were friends. And Crisnarao restored the lands on
the other side of the river, and kept thuse on the
hither side for himself.

CHAPTER VI

Horn Crisnarao, after he had made peace -with the King of Orta,
determined to go against the land of Catuir.

After Crisnarao had made peace, and had married
the daughter of the King of Oria, and had restored
to him his wife and the lands beyond the river, as has
been narrated above, he made ready a large army

^ The original MS. has tontaria suns terras — “ would take his» l.md^.*'
Possibly the first of these words should have been tornaria, in which case
the sentence would mean that the King “would restdre the lands” to his
enemy.

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

3*1

and prepared to attack Catuir,^ which is the land of
a lord who had been in revolt for fifty years ; this
land is on the Charamaodel side. And he went
against it, and laid siege to one of the principal cities
where the lord of the land was ; and it is called . . .*
and is surrounded with water.

Now at the time when Crisnarao attacked this
city it was winter, for which cause the river that
surrounded it was so swollen, and carried down so
much water, that the king could do no harm to the
place. And King Crisnarao, seeing this, and seeing
that time was passing away without his attaining his
desire, commanded his men to cut many new channels
in order to be able to attack that principal (river) which
had opposed itself to the fulfilment of his wishes.
And this was d<ine in a short time, since he had
many soldiers ; and after the (new) watercourses were
finished and brought to where the water should go
he opened mouths in the river, the water of which
very soon fkjwed out so that the bottom could be
seen, and it was left so shallow that it enabled him
to reach the walls of the city ; and the river was thus
diverted into fifty diffi^rent beds. Inside the city were
one hundred thousand foot-soldiers and three thousand
cavalry, who defended themstilves and fought very
bravely, but this availed little to prevent Crisnarao
from entering in a few days and slaughtering all of
them. He found h-rge treasures in this city, amongst
others in ready money a million and six hundred
thousand golden pardaos, besides jewels, and horses,
which were numerous, and elephants. And after he
had finished the capture of this land Crisnarao divided

^ I am unable to identify this country. The description of the town
answers to Vellore in North Arcot, the fine cki fort at which olace is sur-
rounded with a tieep moat* According to tradmon, this place was captured
by Krishna Heva RAya from a Reddi chief.

® Blank m the oiriginaL

322

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

it amongst many of his captains, giving to each one
what was necessary for him ; and the chief who lived
in the city and who was lord of the land was taken
away captive and carried to Bisnaga, where he died
in the King’s prison.

And after the King had settled the country he
came to Bisnaga, whence he sent Salvatinea to the
city of Comdovy, since he was chief of it, by whom
his brother was placed in it so as to see directly to the
land and its government ; for after the King returned
from Orya he never went again thither.

And Salvatinea, having departed on his journey
to Comdovy, before he arrived there, met, opposing
his path, a Muhammadan named Madarmeluquo, who
was a captain of the King on this side,^ and who was
awaiting him with sixty thousand men. Salvatinea
had two hundred thousand men, and had very little
fear of him ; and with these he went against him, and
took and defeated him, and took jjrisoners himself
and his wife and son and horses and elephants and
much money and store of jewels, and sent them all
to King Crisnarao. The king commanded to put (the
captives) in prison, and there they died. .-\nd Saliva-
tinea went to his territories, and after he had stayed
there some months and seen to its government and
decided matters in dispute, he returned to the King
at Bisnaga, by whom he was well received a.s being
the principal person in the kingdom,

* Elrey Daguem This may be “ the king on this side” or '■* the king of
the Dakhan.” The former seems most probable, and I think that the re-
ference IS to the forces of Sultan QuII Qutb Shah of (lolkonda (see the
Muhammadan account of affairs at this time, given abovv, pp. 132-135.)

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

CHAPTER VII

JHbw Crzsnaraa^ on f/ie arr-ival of Salvaiinia^ determined to attack
Rac/w/y a city of ike Ydalcd^o^ and to break the peace that had
lasted so hm^ ; and the reason 70 hy.

After Salvatinia had arrived and had been well received
by the Kingf, and after the lapse of some days, the King
told him that he desired to fulfil all the wishes expressed
in the testament of King Narsynga, one of which was
to capture Rachol, which was a very strong city and
amongst the* principal ones of the Ydallcao, who had
taken it from the kings his ancestors ; and because there
was now peace between both parties, and had been so
for forty years, he knew not how he could manage to
break it. But Salvatinia said that since the peace had
been made under certain conditions — one of which was
that if on either one side or the uther-any land-owners,
captains in revolt, or other evil-doers should be har-
boured and their surrender should be demanded, they
should forthwith be given up — there was now great
reason for breaking the peace, since many land-owners
and debtors to His Highness had lied into the kingdom
of the Ydallcao. He coun.selled therefore that the King
should send to demand the surrender of these men, and
that on refusal to give them up there would be good
ground for breaking the peace. Many, however, dis-
agreed with this ad lice. Now it happened at this time
that the King (of Bisnaga) sent Cide Mercar with forty
thousand pardaos to Goa to buy horses, which Cide Mer-
car was a Moor in whom the King of Bisnaga confided
on account of various affairs with which he had already
been entrusted ; and this man, when he arrived at a
place where the Moors lived which was called Pomda^
and is two leagues from Goa, fled from that place,
Pomdaa, to the Ydallcao, carrying with him all the

324

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

treasure. Some say that the Ydallcao wrote to him a
letter as soon as he got there. As soon as they gave
to the King this news of the flight of Cide, and how he
had carried off all the money, he said that he would
write to the Ydallcao to send the man back to him with
all the money, since he was his friend. Then the King
caused a letter to be written, in which he spoke of the
friendship that had existed for so many years so that
nothing could shake it, and that he hoped that a traitor
would not be the cause of breaking a peace of such long
standing as had been between them ; and he begged
that he would send Cide back at once.

As soon as the letter was read to the Ydallcao he
sent to summon his kazis and the men of his council,
and he bade them read the letter which, had come from
the King, as to which letter there were many suggestions
made. At the end of all they agreed that he should
not send him (Cide) to him (the King of Bisnaga), for
they said that he (Cide) was one learned in the law and
related to Mafumdo.’^ And the YdallcSo, as a cloak to
his action, gave Dabull to that Cide, by way of showing
that he was not near his person nor knew he aught of
him ; from which town of Dabull Cide fled, nor had
they any further news of him. When those who had
come from the King returned bearing th<; Ydallc3.0*s
answer, the King showed great indignation at it, and held
that the peace was broken ; he at once ordered to appear
before him the great lords of his Council, and had the
letter read aloud so that all might hear. As soon as it
was read he said that without more ado they should
make ready, since he was determined to take full ven-
geance. But the councillors advised the King, saying
that for such a -mall sum of money as this it was not
well so to act ; that he should think of what would be
said and talked of throughout. the world ; and that if he

* Muhammad, Mahomet, ^.e he was of the Prophet's kindred.

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

3*5

was bent on breaking so prolonged a peace for such a
trifling cause, he should call to mind chat there never
was any honesty in a Moor ; that others were to blame
in that which Cide had done ; and that if Cide should
dare to come to that war which was waged in order to
take vengeance on him,^ then it would be well that those
who accompanied him should die, but that they knew
that Cide would keep well away from the army.®

The councillors, however, saw that the King remained
unmoved from his determination to make war, and they
then counselled him, saying : — “ Sire, do not go to war by
that route (Dabull), but go against Rachol, which now
belongs to the Ydallcao but of old was part of this king-
dom ; then the Ydallcao will be forced to come to defend
it, and thus thou wilt take vengeance jointly both on one
and the other.” The King held this advice to be good
and prepared for his departure, sending letters to Madre
Maluco, and Demellyno, and Desturvirido,® and other
superior lords, giving them an account of what had taken-
place in the matter of the Ydallcao, and how he had

* The text is confused here-

^ The following iS Barros's account of this affair of “Cide Mercar.”
After mentioning the terms of the treaty between Vijayanagar and Byapiir,
one of which provided for the reciprocal extradition of criminals and debtors,
he writes

“ Crisnarao, knowing that he could catch the Hidalcao in this trap,
ailed a Moot by name Cide Mercar, who had been in his service for many
years, and bade him take forty thousand pardaos and go to Goa to buy
horses of those that had come from Persia, Crisnaro wrote letters to our
Captain , . , on purpose that the affair might become widely known to
all, Cide Mercar, either tempted by the large sum of money in his charge,
or swayed by a letter which they say was sent to him by the Hidalcdo,
when he arrived at a Tmnadaria called Pond^l, three leagues from Goa, fled
to the HidalcSo from there. The Hidalcao as soon as he arrived sent hm4
to Chaul, saying that he bestowed on him this Tanadarta as he was an
honourable man of the family of Mahamed • , • ; but in a few days he dis-
appeared from there, and they say that the king 'ordered his murder after
he had taken from him the forty thousand pardaos*”

* ** Madre” stands for Im4d, the Biri.r Sultan ; “ Virido” /or the Bartd
Sultan of Bfdar* I cannot explain Demtifyno or Desiur^ unless the former
be an error of the copyist for “Zemelluco” as written below, which certainly

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

3a6

determined to make war on him ; from which lords he
received answer that he was doing rightly, and that they
would assist him as far as they were able. As to the
Zemelluco, at the time when the messengers returned
this answer he could find no excuse for not sending
some troops to the aid of his sister who was wedded
to the Ydallcao.

The King had sent the letters to those lords nut of
his great craftiness, for he told them of what he was
about to do in order to seduce them to his side, — so far
at least as concerned their goodwill, seeing that in the
matter of troops he had no need of them — because if
they had joined the Ydallcao he (the King) would never
have conquered as he did ; but because the Y<IaIlcao
was hated by them all as being a more powerful chief
than they, (for there is little faith amongst the Moors,
and they bite one another like dogs and like to s(;e one
after the other destroyed) he was conqut;red, <is you will
see hereafter, in the month of May, on the new moon day,
in the year one thousand five hundred anti twenty-two.*

After the King had made his offerings and performed
sacrifices to his idols he left the city of Bisnaga with all
his troops ; and they marched in the following order.
The chief of the guard (o po^ieiro moor) led the advance
with thirty thousand infantry — archers, men with shields,
and musqueteers, and spearmen — and a thousand horse,
and his^ elephants. After him '‘went Trimbicara with
fifty thousand foot and two thousand’, horse and twenty
elephants. After him went Timapanayque ; he had

refers to tbe Nizam Shdh. Several Portuguese writers omit the ifirst syllable
of “ Nizlm ” m their chronicles. On p, 54H l>clow* these names are given as
Madremalluco, Zemelluco, ** Destuy ” and ** Virido aiKi therefore Destur**
and Destuy” must mean the Qutb Shdh of Golkonda, at that period Saltan
Quiz. On p. 349 we have the form “ Descar/^'

^ For a full discussion of this date see above, p. 140.

^ See above, p. 263, note. His name was K^ma Naik <p. 329).

® Seus Perhaps is a clerical error for jrm, **• mx,** Barros^

in describing the same event, says “ sixteen elephants.'*

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ 327

with him sixty thousand foot and three thousand five
hundred horse and thirty elephants ; and after him went
Adapanayque with one hundred thousand foot and five
thousand horse and fifty elephants. After him came
Comdamarad and he had one hundred and twenty
thousand foot six thousand horse and sixty elephants ;
after him went Comara, and he had eij^jhty thousand
foot and of horse two thousaryi five hundred, and forty
elephants ; after him the forces of Ogemdraho,^ the
g<jvernor of the city of Bisnaga, with one of his captains,
wh<> had one thousand horse and thirty thousand foot
and ten elephants. After him went three eunuchs,
favourites of the King, who had forty thousand foot and
one thousand horse and fifteen elephants. The page
who served the King w'ith betel ® bad fifteen thousand
foot and two hundred horse, but he had no elephants.
Comarherca* haa eight thousand foot and four hundred
horse and twenty elephants. The people of the chief of
Bengapf>r'' went by another route with the people of
I')<>mar, whc) werti very numerous ; and in the same way
went other captains t)f ten or twelve thousand men, of
whom I make no mention, not knowdng their names.
The King took of his guard six thousand horse and
forty thousand foot, the pick of all his kingdom, men
with shields, arclu-rs, and three hundred elepha.nts.

All were equally well armed, each after his own fashion,
the archers and musqueteers with their quilted tunics,®

’ See below, p. j/'io, no.e.

• Probably KAj.ih, brother of .SAluva Timma, the minister. (See

p. 284, anti note tt> p ■^61 ) The initial “<)” may he the article “The.”

* The Kreat vassal lords of Machii.a, who after the fell of the kingdom
establishctl themselves as a dynasty of independent sovereigns, descended,
so Barrad.as tr-Il*. is, from the “ Page of the betel ” (above, p. 230),

1 think th.it the set ond t m this n.ame is an error for e, and that
Comarbere.-’ ’’ repiesents Kumilra Virayya of Mysore (above, p. 269).
Later on Nunir. spells the natne “ Comarlierya” (below, p. 336).

* Above, pp. 40, 60, 122.

• for Itudeit, quilted tunics, doublets. The word is spelt in other
places lay ties, lamdtfs, landys, Ittmdys, and landeis. See note, p. 276, above.

32 8 A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

and the shieldmen with their swords and poignards ^ in
their girdles ; the shields are so large that there is no
need for armour to protect the body, which is com-
pletely covered ; the horses in full clothing, and the men
with doublets,^ and weapons in their hands, and on their
heads headpieces after the manner oi their doublets,
quilted with cotton. The war-elephants go with their
howdahs {casiellos) from which four men fight on each
side of them, and the elephants are completely clothed,
and on their tusks they have knives fastened, much
ground and sharpened, with which they do great harm.
Several cannon were also taken. I do not speak here of
the washermen, who are numberless here — they wash
clothes — nor of the public women who accompanied the
army ; there were twenty thousand of them with the king
during his journey. Any one can imagine the amount
of baggage that such a large number of people would
take. In the rear with the king, but always on the road
in front of him, some ten or twelve thousand men with
water-skins who go seeking water, and place themselves
along the road to give water to those who have no one
to bring it to them ; this is done so that none of the
people should die of thirst. Three or four leagues in
front of all this multitude go some fifty thousand men
who are like scouts ; they have to spy out the country in
front, and always keep that distance ; and on their flanks
there are two thousand horse of the cavalry of that
country. These are all bowmen, and they always advance
on the flanks of the scouts.

In this order, as I have stated, they left the city of
Bisnaga, and with them a great number of merchants,

* Gotnedares, probably the modem agomia or gomia^ “a poignard.”
Senhor Lopes refers me to Barros, Mendes, Pinto, &c., where the form used
is gumia; the word being oerived from the Arabic kummiya, which properly
means a curved dagger — punhat e$n inea etrco” (MS. in Portuguese, on
Morocco, in Senhor Lopes’s possession).

* See above, p. 270.

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

329

besides many others who were already in advance with
all supplit's ; so that wherever you may be you will at
once find all you want. Every captain has his merchants
who fire compelled to give him all supplies requisite for
all his people, and in the same way they carry all other
necessaries.

Acc<.>rding to the King’s custom, when he wishes to
lie down luui sleep, they make for him a hedge of brush-
wood and of thorns behind which his tent is pitched,
which was done lor him all along this route ; on which
route was seen a wonderful thing, namely that on pass-
ing a river which, when they reached it, came half-w'ay
up to the knee, befoic half the people had passed it
was totally dry without a droj> of water ; and they went
about in the sand of it making pits to find some w'ater.
In this order the King proceeded till he arrived at the
tpwn of Mollabamdym,^ which is a league from the city
of Kachol, where he pitched his camp so as to give a
rest to the people uft(*r the fatigues of the march.

And the King being in the city of IMoilabarndyn,
settling all that was necessary for the siege of Rachol,
there came to hint people of the King of Bisnaga, and
the people of Doin.aar, and also many other captains
with an infinitude of people. As soon as they had
joined and everything was put in order, and after his
Brahmans hatl finisheti their ceremonies and sacrifices,
they lok! the King that it w’as now time, that the pagodas
had given sign of c<’‘n£iuest. and that he should advance

Then he sent the Moors in the rttyal .st'rvicc to lead
the van, and Camanayqut', the chief tif the guard, pitched
the camp very near tht‘ ditches of the city of Rachol,
and ev'ery captain halteti lus people according to the
commands given. I'lie pt*opI<* of the city received them

* Malli-ibAd, now < bise to Raichnr^ Tlie name bv Nun/

I take to icpicsent Malha Un Maihya) iktuda/* probably the Hindu name,
rock.*’ MalliAbiiii” is the name given by the Musalmans

330

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

with many shots from heavy cannon that they had, and
from many firelocks, and many arrows and musket-shots,
so that those of the besiegers who arrived close to the
ditches suffered heavily and wanted to retreat. But the
King would not permit this, saying that he would not
have sent them there were it not that he would soon
effect an entry into the city, and if not, that they should
all die , wherefore his men were compelled to attack the
city, and did so in many brave and severe fights. In
these many of them lost their lives, since those of the
city were in very strong position and well acquainted
with everything that was necessary for their defence,
while the King’s troops never ceased their attacks on the
cJty. The captains, seeing how badly the attack was
going in consequence of the number of soldiers killed,
had recourse to lavish gifts and stratagems, as thus : —
T hey began to buy (from the soldiers) the stones which
they took from the walls and towers, and they paid
them according to the value of the stone; so that the
stones were worth ten, twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty
fanams.^ By this device they contrived to dismantle
the wall in many places, and laid the city open ; but
since the city w’as in itself so strong, and the soldiers
who were in it were such chosen men an<i so used to
warfare, they killed many of the King's pe<jple. Yet not
for that did they cease fighting, but every d:iy and at
every attack they became bolder, in consc<juence of their
greed for what the captains gave th'*m ; fr>r the money
had the power of taking from them the terrf>r of death
which had inspired them before. They also gave them
something for dragging away a dead man from the
foot of the wall. So the fight draggeti on for a
space of three months till the Ydallcao came up with
rei n force m e nts.

Now I wish you to know more of the situation, and
' A small copper coin.

33i

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUJ^IZ

of the city, and the people which it held. This city
of Rachol lies between two great rivers, and in the
midst of a great plain where there are no trees except
very small ones, and there are great boulders there ;
from each river to the city is three leagues. One of these
rivers is the northern boundary, and beyond it the
country belongs to the Ydallcao, and the other is the
boundary to the south which i's the boundary of Nar-
symga. This plain lies in the middle <jf these two
rivers, and there are large lakes therein and wells and
some little streams where the city is sitcjaled. and a hill
which looks like a woman's breast and is of natural
formation. The city has three lines of strong walls of
heavy masonry n'ladc without lime ; the walls are packed
with earth inside, and it h<is on the highest point a for-
tress like a tower, very high and strong ; at the top
v'here the fortress stands is a spring of water which
runs all the year round. It is held to be a holy and
mystt;rious thing that a spring which is in a lofty situa-
tion should in some way never be without water. Be-
sides this .spring then* are several tanks of water and
wells, so that the citizens had no fear of being ever
taken for lat.k of water ; and there were in the city
supplies for live y<‘ars. There were eight thousand
men as garrisfjn and four hundred horse and twenty
elephants, anti thirty catapults {trnbz^cos) w'hmh hurled
heavy sttmes and did great damage. The towers which
arc: on the walls an* so close together that on<-* tan hear
words sptjken from one to the f>lher. Betwt:en these
and all around they j)oste<l their artillery, which con-
sisted of two huntlred heavy .pieces, not to mention
small ones. As .soon as the people of the city knew
of the arrival of the King's troops, and after they had
receivc‘d a capuiin of the YdallcSo who came wdth .some
soldiers to the city, they closed tl^ gates with stone and
mortar. 'Fhe chiel fight which takes place is on the

332

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

east side, because on the north and south sides it
stands on huge rocks which make it very strong ;
and, the city being besieged on all sides, the camp
of the King was on the east side, and so was the
strength of the attack.

CHAPTER VIII

Of the 7nan7ier in 7vhtch the King had his tamp^ cS-v-

The tent of the King was surrounded by a great hedge
, of thorns with only one entrance, and with a gate at
which stood his guards. Inside this hedge lv)dged the
Brahman who washes him etnd has charge ot tiie idol
that he always carries about with him, and al.so other
persons who hold offices about thti King’s j>crson, and
eunuchs who are always to be found in his chamber.
And outside this circle all around are his guards, who
watch all night at fixed spo‘ts ; with this guard are quar-
tered the officers of the household ; and from thence to
the front were all the other captains in their appointed
posts, according as each one was entrusted and ordered.
Outside of all these people, in a camp by themselves,
were che scouts of whom I have already spoken, whose
duty it is to patrol all night through the camp and
watch to see if they can catch any spies. On the
other side the washermen, (who are those that wash
clothes) were in a camp by themselves, and they
were near to the place where they could best wash
clothes.

All the camp was divided into regular streets. Piach
captain’s division has its market, where ytai found al
kinds of meat, such as sheep, goats, pigs, fowls, hares,
partridges and other birds, and this in grciit abundance ;
so much so that it would seem as if you were in the
city of Bisnaga. And you found many endless kinds

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

of rice, grains, Indian-corn, vetches {ntingtio)^ and other
seeds that they eat. Besides these things, which are
necessaries, they had another (market) where you could
find in great abundance everything that you wanted ;
for in these markets they sell things that in our parts
are sold by professional hucksters.-* There were crafts-
men, also, working in their streets, so that you saw made
there golden jewels and gewgaws, and you will find all
kinds of rubies and diamonds and pearls, with every
other kind of precious stone for sale. There also were
to be seen sellers of cloths, and these were without
number as that is a thing so many want, they being
of cotton. There were also to be seen grass and straw
in infinite abundance. I do not know who could describe
it so as to be believed, so barren a country is this
Rachol and so sandy. It is a mystery how there should
■be an abundance of everything therein. Any one can
imagine what grass and straw would be required each
day for the consumption of thirty-two thousand four hun-
dred horses and five hundred and fifty-one elephants,*
to say nothing of the sumpter-mules and asses, and the
great numbers of oxen which carry all the supplies and
many other burdens, such as tents and other things.
Indeed no one who did not understand the meaning
of what he saw would ever dream Jthat a war was going
on, but would think that he was in a prosperous city.
Then to see the numbers of drums and trumpets, and
other musical instruments that they use. When they
strike up their music as sign that they are about to give
battle it would seem as if the heavens must fall ; and if
it happened that a bird came flying along at the time
when they made such a terrific noise, it used to come

» Minguo^ probably moang or green gxaii (“Hobson-Jobson”)-

Ba-tuta call® it munjl otEeirs munj^*

* d

* Tlia total cavalry and elephants of the diflermt columns enumerated
above cemes to 33,600 and SSV respectively*

334

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

down through terror of not being able to get clear oi
the camp, and so they would catch it in their hands ;
principally kites, of which they caught many.

But I cease to speak more of this because I should
never finish ; and so I turn to tell of the battle.

CHAPTER IX

JEIotv the ICing attacked the city of Rachol,

The King, being as I have said at the siege of the
city of Rachol, there came to him sure news that the
YdallcSo had arrived at the river on the northern side,
and that there he had pitched his camp. The King
therefore sent his spies to keep watch over the foe,
to see what he was doing and to send word of his
every movement. With the coming of this news a
tumult broke out in the camp, principally among the
common soldiers, in whose minds suspicion was never
wanting, and they still suffered under the terror inspired
from old time by the Moors. There the Ydallcao halted
some days so as to see what the King was doing and
whether he would march to attack him there in his
camp ; for it was thought by him and by his people that
as soon as the King should learn of his arrival he would
at once march to meet him, and they decided that he
could defend himself from the King in the place where
he was better than in any other, b^' help of the river.
For there was no other ford than the one close at hand ;
and this they proposed to guard so well that none
should take it, least of all, they thought, men who (in
their eyes) were only blacks.

Although the King heard that the enemy was on
the opposite bank of the river, he y&t made no move,
nor did he do anything; and the Ydallcao, seeing that
he made no advance, took counsel with his oflScers, and

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

335

at this council the advice given greatly differed, as each
had his own opinion regarding the non-movement of the
King. Many said that this was because the King held
his "Coe to be of little account, and wished to show his
people how great was his power ; and they said that
he was only waiting for them to cross the river to at
once fall upon them. I’he principal person who said
this was Amcostam,^ who was captain of Pomdaa at the
time that l>om Guterre was captain of Goa.® Others
said no, but that the King was afraid, thinking of times
past and the many conquests that the Moors had gained
over the Hindus, and that he had brought with him some
veteran soldiers that had taken part in those wars. The
advice of these was to push forward and pass the river.
It was not well (they said) for the Ydallcao to show
weakness, and the longer he .stayed where he was the
less would he benefit himself and harm the enemy ;
and although they were not so many in number as the
Hindus, yet they had the advantage in the remembrance
of the former battles that had been fought between
them.* In the end the Ydallcao ordered that they
should muster the forces, and said that after this was
ended he would decide what was best to be done. When
the muster was made, he found that he had one hundred
and twenty thousand men on foot, archers and musque-
teers and men with shields and spearmen, and eighteen

^ Barros has Ancosida^ and Correa Ana^scdo. The latter termination
seems the most natoral — cdo for Khdn. The name appears to be ** Ankus
Khin/* ** Pomdaa ” is Fomdd or close to Goa.

» Dom Guterre de Monroy sailed from Portugal to India in 1515 in com-
mand of a fleet (Albuquerque, 3 E*£akluyt edition, iv. 194). In 1516 he was in
command at Goa during the absence of Governor Lopo Soares at the Red
Sea, between the months of February and September, and during that
period attacked the Btjapdr troops at Pond 4 , which were commanded by
Ankus Khtu, with some success (Barros, Dec III. L i. c. 8). Osorio
(Gibbs' translation, ih ass) represents De Monroy as a man of a very cruel
and licentious disposition- He was married to a niece of the governor.

• They believed, that i% that their prestige would give them great moral
sitperlofity over the Hindus.

336 A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

thousand cavalry, and one hundred and fifty elephants ;
and when the muster was over and he had seen his
forces for himself, seeing also the great strength of
artillery that he had, he said that with his artillery he
would seek to defeat the Rao of Narsymga. He there-
fore ordered them to make ready, since he desired to
cross the river at once and advance to the attack ; for
the Ydallcao believed that his best course was to halt
on the farther side and thence send his troops to charge
the camp of the. King, and that in so doing he would
not be beaten and would not lose Rachol/

In this greedy resolve he passed the ford and ad-
vanced to within three leagues of the King’s camp,
and he caused his own camp to be strengthened by
large trenches, and commanded all his artillery to take
post in front, and he arranged the order of his positions
and the manner in which they should behave if they
were attacked by the enemy. His camp extended along
tlje length of the river for the sake of the water, that he
niight not be cut off from it by the enemy.

As soon as they brought news to the King that the
Ydallcao had passed the river, he commanded all to
make ready, but that no movement should take place
in his army till he should see how the enemy acted ;
and when they brought him further news that the enemy
had pitched his camp and strengthened his position, he
ordered a general advance of all his forces. He divided
his army into seven wings. Comarherya* begged from
him (the command) of the van, he l^i ng the king’s
fathef-in-Iaw’ jand a great lord ; he is King of Seriga-
pat^o and lord of a large. state; he brought with him
thirty girbwn-u|> sons. The King bade hilm pitch his
camp a iea^e fp-om t;he Vd^llcaio and ordered all to
arm themselves at dawh, as he intended then to give

battle to the enemy ; but the men of the Council said
that that day was an unlucky day, and begged him not
to attack, as it was a Friday, and they asked him
not to attack till Saturday, which they hold for a
lucky day.

When the King had left Rachel, those inside opened
a gate, and one of the captains who was inside, a eunuch,
made a sally w ith two hundred horse, certain foot-soldiers
and elephants ; he kept entirely along the river-bank on
the King’s flank. The object of this no one could guess,
each one having his own opinion. As soon as the King
halted he also did the same, keeping always his spies in
the King’s camp to see what passed and (what would
be) the end of the battle. Since both armies were so
close, each to his foe, they never put aside their weapons
but watched all the night through.

Seeing that the dawn of Saturday was now breaking,
the drums and trumpets and other music in the King’s
camp began to sound and the men to shout, so that it
seemed as if the sky would fall to the earth ; then the
neighing and excitement of the horses, and the trumpet-
ing of the elephants, it is impossible for any one to
describe how it was. But even if told in simple truth
it w'ould hardly be believed the great fear and terror
that struck those wdio heard it, so that even those very
men that caused the noise were themselves frightened
at it. And the enemy on their part made no less noise,
so that if you asked anything you could not hear your-
self speak and you had to ask by signs, since in no other
manner could you make yourself understood. When all
in the camp had gone to the front it was already two
hours after sunrise, and the King ordered an advance of
his two forward divisions, with command so to strike
home that they should leave not one of the enemy alive »
and this was forthwith done. They attacked tne enemy
so hotly that many of the King’s troops found them-

338 A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

selves on the tops of the trenches ^ that the Moors had
constructed in the fields. The Moors were disposed as
if they expected that the King would engage them all
at once with all his forces, and so it appeared to the
Ydallcao and to his officers ; and for that reason he
held ready all his artillery, waiting for the time when,
owing to the adventurousness of their main body, his
men must of necessity cause much slaughter in their
ranks. Then he intended to bring up his artillery and
destroy them. But as soon as he saw the manner of
their attack the YdallcS-o had to abandon the plan that
had seemed to him best for their safety, and he com-
manded the whole of the artillery at once to open fire ;
which discharge, as it was very great, did much damage
to the enemy, killing many of the horse and foot and
many elephants, and it compelled the King’s troops to
retire. As soon as the Moors saw their enemies begin-
ning to leave the field they charged all amongst them,
so that there did not remain one man in the saddle nor
one who kept his face to the foe ; but all the King’s
troops began to fly, and the Moors after them, slaughter-
ing them for about half a league. When the King saw
the way in which his troops fled he began to cry out
that they were traitors, and that he would see who was
on his side ; and that since they all had to die they
should meet their fate boldly according to custom.®
“Who ranges himself with me?” he cried. Immedi-
ately there thronged about him all those lords and
captains that were ready to side with him, and the
King said that the day had arrived in which the Ydallcao
would boast that he had slain in it the greatest lord in

^ The orig-inal has cavas e /Maudes. The meaning of the last word is not

clear.

* de morrer pedtd^f ausa da marie. Ausa is perhaps for ousmiiaf

^^-boldiseas*; " and the passage would then mean that since death appeared
inevitable they should meet it half-way^ and not lazily await it ; they should
die Hke soldiers in a charge, not stupidly standing still to be slaughtered.

the world, but that he should never boast that he had
vanquished him. Then he took a ring from his finger
and gave it to one of his pages, so that he might show it
to his queens in token of his death, that they might burn
themselves according to custom. Then he mounted a
horse and moved forward with all his remaining divi-
sions, commanding to slay without mercy every man of
those who had fled. As soon as these last saw what a
reception they received at the hand of their fellows they
felt compelled to turn and charge the enemy, and their
attack was such that not one amongst the Moors was
found to face them ; for the Moors met them as men
engaged in a pursuit, all in great disorder. The con-
fusion was so great amongst the Moors and such havoc
was wrought (in their ranks) that they did not even try to
defend the camp they had made so strong and enclosed
so well ; but like lost men they leaped into the river to
save themselves. Then after them came large numbers
of the King’s troops and elephants, which latter worked
amongst them mischi<if without end, for they seized men
with their trunks and tore them into small pieces, whilst
those who rode in the castles (howdahs) killed countless
numbers.

The troops advanced thus, pursuing the foe, till the
King reached the river, where, seeing the death of
so many — for here you would see women and boys
who had left the camp, there horses and men who
through clinging o le to another could not escape as
there was so much water in the river — and the King’s
troops stood on the bank, so that whenever a man
appeared he was killed, and the horses that tried to
clamber up by the bank of the river, unable to do so,
fell back on the men, so that neither one nor the
other escaped, and the elephants went into the stream,
and those that they could seize were cruelly killed
by them. Seeing what passed, I say, the King out

34 °

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

of compassion commanded the troops to retire, saying-
that numbers had died who did not deserve death
nor were at all in fault ; which order was at once
obeyed by all the captains, so that each one with-
drew all his forces.

The King then advanced to the camp of the Ydallcao
and rested himself in his tent, but many of the captains
spoke against his action in thus taking repose, saying
that he ought rather to complete the destruction of
all his enemies, and they would secure this for him ;
and that if he did not wish himself to do this he
should at least command some of them to do it, and
that it was not wise to cease from pursuit so long as
daylight should last. To whom the King answered
that many had died who were not to blame ; thiit if
the Ydallcao had done him wrong, he had already
suffered enough ; and moreover, that it did not seem
to him good, since Rachol remained behind them to
be taken, that they should go forward, but rather
they should make the-mselves ready for its capture ;
for that the siege had to be conducted henceforth in
a new and better manner. For the King was per-
suaded throughout that, since the Ydallcao had lost
so many men and so much honour, and had lost indeed
all his power, he would not wish to live any longer,
and that he must be dead on the field. Which, how-
ever, w'as not so, seeing that the YdallcSo had not
even entered into the fight, but had all the time re-
mained under guard of Sefallarym^ — he who now calls
himself A<;adacao and is lord of Belgaum — who, fear-
ing the event, contrived by cunning that the Ydallcao
should select him for his guard with ail’ his troops,
among whom he had four hundred cavalry ; and when
he saw how the soldiers fled, and how completely they

» “ Sufo Larij,” Barros, Dec. Ill- L iv. cap. $. Asada KliSn’s love of
. intrigue was proverbial amongst the Portuguese of that day.

341

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

nad been defeated, he said to the Ydallcao, “ Sire, if
thou seekest to live follow me!” and the Ydallcao
took refuge on an elephant and followed him, leav-
ing his camp and all that he possessed. And as
Agadacao wished him to travel by land,^ he took no
care to search for the ford, but skirting the range of
hills on the south he went by that w'ay.®

As it may be asked what became of the captain
who sallied out of Rachol with the two hundred
horsemen and elephants and foot-soldiers, I say that
he ever kept himself advised of what passed in the
field ; and as soon as he learned that the Ydallcao
was defeated he turned back to take refuge again in
the citadel. But those within were not of a mind
to receive him, there being a quarrel between hi'm
and another captain who was in the city ; and he,
peeing that they would not admit him, was forced to
think how he could save himself, and he did so by
passing the river by another ford farther down, and
so saved himself- The belief of many was that he
who was inside thought that he would now possess
the city for his own, and that he would thereby be-
come rich, and for that reason refused to receive
the captain.

CHAPTER X

Of the spoil taken from the Afoors, of how the King burned all the
dead, and of what Christovdo de Figueiredo did.

The King being thus in the camp, he commanded
the spoil that remained of the Moors to be collected,
and there were found five captains who were taken
prisoners (those of highest rank were found amongst

^ fuer irasta quem hut a terra. A dc ubtful passage.

* Tammpmia da srrra da d^amda da suL It would be interesting

to leans which raisge of hills is referred to.

342

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

the dead) ; the chiefest of them was Salabatacao,^ who
was captain-general of ail the troops of the Ydallcao.
He had taken for his guard in the battle five hun-
dred Portuguese of the renegades who were with the
Moors ; and as soon as this Salabatacao saw that
his army was defeated, he strove to collect and form
a body of men, but could not do it because there
Was not one amongst them who thought of aught
but to save himself- And thinking it worse to be
•conquered than to die, he threw himself amongst
the King’s troops, slaughtering them, and doing such
wonderful deeds that ever after he and his Portu-
guese were remembered, so much were their terrible
strokes feared, and the deeds they did ; so that they let
them pass on, and they penetrated so far amongst the
troops* that they found themselves close to the King’s
bodyguard. There the horse of Salabatacao was killed-
In order to succour him the Portuguese did great deeds,
and killed so many men that they left a broad road
behind them which no one diired to enter, and they
fought so well that they got another horse for Sala-
batacao. As soon as he was on its back he seemed
like nothing but a furious wolf amongst sheep ; but
since already they were all so exhausted, so wounded
all over, and so encircled by the enemy (for they
were attacked at every point), Salabaiacilo was at
length overthrown, and his horse with him. And
as the Portuguese who tried to succour him were all
killed, not one escaping, and he himself was wounded
in many places, he was taken prisoner.

The spoil was four thousand horses of Ormuz, and
a hundred elephants, and four hundred hdavy cannon,
besides small ones ; the number of gun-car»'iages for
them was nine hundred, and there were many tents
and pavilions. I take no account of the sumpter-

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

343

horses and oxen and other beasts, for they were
numberless, nor of the numbers of men and boys, nor
yet of some women, whom the King ordered to be
released.

Here the King stayed till all the dead had been
burned, and the customary honours had been paid to
them ; and here he gave much alms for the souls of
those who had been killed in battle on his side. These
numbered sixteen thousand and odd. These things
done, he turned again upon Rachol and pitched his
camp as he had done before.

During this return of the King there came to meet
him Christovao de Figueiredo,^ who was at that time
in the city of Bisnaga with horses, and he took with
him twenty Portuguese musqueteers, he also himself
having his musquet. The King took much pleasure
in his company, glad that he should see the war and
his great power ; and he ordered some tents to be
given to him of those taken from the Ydallcao, and
commanded that he should be lodged close to hfs own
quarters. One day Christovao de Figueiredo told the
King that he wanted to go and see the city, but the
King s-'iid that he should not set his heart upon that
because he did not want any disaster to befall him.
But Christovao de Figueiredo replied that the whole
business of the Portuguese was war, and that this
would be the greatest favour that he could do him,
namely that Pi is Highness should permit him to go
and .see the Moors. So the King gave him leave and
sent some people with liim. Christovao de P'igueiredo
went ck>se to the trench before tlie w'alLs, keeping
him.self as much ctuicealed a,s possible, and seeing how
fearlessly the Majors <. .xpo.sed themselves on the wall,
began, with the musqueteers whom he had brought, to
open fire on them in such a way that he slew many.

344

the Moors being careless and free from fear, as men
who up to then had never seen men killed with fire-
arms nor with other such weapons. So they began
to forsake the wall (at this point), and the king’s troops
found an opportunity of coming in safety to it, and
they began to destroy much of the masonry ; and so
many people collected on this side that all the camp
was put in commotion, saying that Christovao de
Figueiredo had entered the city with his Portuguese.
This was told to the King. Those in the city could
not understand what was going on, nor how these
people came to be in the King’s service, until they
recollected how on the day of the other fight the
Portuguese had come, and then they considered them-
selves lost. For by the aid of those men the King's
people came without fear to the wall, where already
it was damaged in many places, bccadse the city had
its cannon so high up that these could do no injury
to the men who were at the foot of the wall. 'Fhe
wall also was filled up insi<ie with earth, anti there
were no camion in the breaches. The peoph; of the
city whom up to that time they had killed had been
supplied with stones which they had Hung on the
besiegers from the top of the wall, and with muscpicts
and arrows, so that even if the King’s men were able
to reach the wail at all they were at least wounded ;
but as Christovao de Figueiredo with the Portuguese
prevented the enemy from appearing at all on the wall,
the Hindus were enabled to reach it at their ease.

Here you would have seen how the King’s captains
begged Christovao de Figueiredo to permit them one
day to attack the Moors in his company,i tind he, in
order to content the more honourable of them, went
with them on tho.^e days. One day he divided his
musqueteeis into three companies and began to kill
several amongst the Moors who showed themseh'es.

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

34S

insomuch that none durst be seen ; and then the King’s
troops began, in these three divisions, to attack the
wall with many pickaxes and crowbars,’ and he sent
to tell the rest that they sViould attack on their own
account ; and such was the result that the defenders of
the city began to abandon the first line of fortification,
and the women and children took refuge in the citadel.
The captain of the city, seeing the dismay that had
spread amongst his people, began to turn them back
with encouraging words, and with some of them betook
himself to that part of the wall which he Saw was most
severely pressed, begging them that they would come
back to the wall and not be afraid. He w'as answered by
some that at that point were tliose Franks’ who were
helping, and that as soon as any one showed himself
he was a dead man ; and he, wishing to see for himself
where the Portuguese were, reached over with his body
in front one of the embrasures and was killed with a
musquet-shot that .struck him in the middle of his fore-
heiad. It \Nas saitl by the Moons that Christovao de
Figueyredo had killed him, and they took notice of him
{dcrao sygnaes d die). As soon as the captain was thus
killed there was great lamentation in th«^ city, and soon
the wall was deserted, so thcit the men from the King’s
camp were left to do as they pleased w’ith it ; and they
notietjd tl'.e outcry that a.-ose w'ithin and saw that there
W'as no one defending the wall. They therefore retired
to see what should happen, and left off fighting for
that day,

^ for aiaxHinca^ a Portuguese word for crowbai still used

everywhere in Ceylon.

fA Feringhees, Franks, or Euiopean*-.

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

CHAPTER XI

Mow those in the city asked for terms, and the king granted

them quarter.

Next day, which was twenty days since the battle
had taken place in which the Ydallcao had been de-
feated, the men of the city opened a gate, and with a
white flag carried in front of them went the way of
the King’s camp with their hands uplifted, begging the
King’s mercy.

When the King was advised of their coming, he
commanded Solestema,^ his minister, to receive them ;
and when they saw that he came out to receive them
they began to hope that they should experience kindness
at the King’s hands.

Thus they came to the place where he was, and
there they prostrated themselves on the ground with
much groaning and tears, and besought his pity and
benevolence.

The King commanded them to rise, saying that he
would save all their persons and property, and that they
need have no fear but should return to the city, and
that on the next day he would enter it ; aitd he bade
a captain take possession of the city.

Whilst the Moors were thus in presence of the
King (the soldiers looking on), they saw Christovao de
Figueiredo, and told the King that the contjuest and
capture of the city was due to that foreigner, that
he had slain their captain, and with his people had
killed many Moors, which caused the c’ty’s destruc-
tion, The King, casting his eyes on Christovao de
Figueiredo, noddeu his head, and turned to the people
telling them to observe what great things could bei

347

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

effected by one good man. He then retired to his
tent and the men of the city to the city, and the
king’s troops made great feasting and rejoicing.

CHAPTER XII

Hcnv the Ring entered the city, and of the feast that was made for hitn,
and 0/ the r~’^u/ations and arrangements he made there.

As soon as the next day dawned, the King, after he
had performed both his customary prayers and others
which it i.s their wont to offer after victories, giving
thanks tt) G<k 1 (for indeed the principal thing they
pray for is a conquest such as this), rode in company
with the other great lords and his captains, and with
his guard took the way to the city. Tlu re the citizens
were sttinding awaiting his arrival, with more cheerful
countenance.s than their real feelings warranted, yet
striving to take courage, and they followed him with
much loud shouting ; crying, — “God be praised who has
sCiit to save us after so many years 1 ” and with these
and other such words they begged him to spare them
and have pity on them. So he proceeded till he arrived
close to the citadel, when he sent to call the most
honoured men in the city, and to these the King said
that he would spare all their property, that they might
freely act as they wished regarding both that and their
persons, and those who wished to stay in the city might
remain in their old state as before ; and as for those who
wished to depart they might do so at once with all
that they possessed. They all raised their hands to
Heaven, and threw themselves on the ground in thank-
fulness fer such gentle treatment. While the King was
thus engaged there came men to tell him that his troops
were robbing the city, and he at once took measures
to prevent this, and everything was returned to its

348

A JPORGOTTEN EMPIRE

owner ; but as in such cases as these the conquered are
content merely with their own liberty, laying little store
by anything they may get back, great robberies took
place ; and some of these afterwards came to the ears
of the King, and those who had done it were soundly
chastised.

In a short time the defeat of the Ydallcao was
known all over India, and also in other regions of the
interior, he being a great lord in these parts ; -and as
soon as the news was carried to Zemelluco and Madre-
malluco and Destuy and Virido, and also to other lords
who were like slaves to the king Daquym,^ although
in some measure they rejoiced since they wished him
ill, yet on the other hand they began to be fearful for
their own safety.® So they all took measures to send
their envoys, and these found the King still inside the
city of Rachol. Astonished though they were to see
that the King had captured so strong a city, they were
much more surprised to see how great was his -power
and how numerous his troops. Having arrived where
he was they gave him the letters they had brought,
and these were forthwith read. In these the chiefs told
the King that he ought to content himself with having
defeated the Ydallcao as he had done, and ought not
to wage further war ; they begged him of his good-
ness to return to the Ydallcao that which he had so
taken from him, and that if he did so they would always
obey whatever he commanded ; but if he was not of a
mind to this, then he must know for certain that they
would be compelled to turn against him and forthwith

* Rey Daquym, King of the IDakhan. This evidently refers to the
Bahtnani king, "who viras still recognised as titular sove»'eign, though the
whole country had revolted and broken up into five independent kingdoms.
F or the names that precede this see note to p. aag above.

Cofne^ar&o tieitaf as barbes ent r'ettwlho. This refers to the Fortu-
^cse provero— “ Quando vires arder as barbas do teu visinho, p5e (or
deitar) as tuas eni remolho*'— When you see your nci|f!hbour^s l>eax<i on
fire, steep your own in water or goard against like treatment. — D. F.

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

was entered an ambassador of the Ydallcao. Already
he knew that an ambassador had come but he pre-
tended that he did not know, since it is not customary
for the King to send out to receive any ambassador (on
his arrival). Since this ambassador was in the city of
Bisnaga, knowing that the King was in the new city,
which is two leagues from Bisnaga, he betook himself
thither ; and close to the city bade the people pitch his
tent, which was the best and most beautiful and rich
that up to that time had ever been seen in those parts.
This ambassador was called Matucotam ; he brought
with him one hundred and fifty horse and much people
to serve him and many pack animals, among which were
certain camels. He brought also two of the scribes of
the chamber of the Ydallcao, so that indeed you would
believe that he had brought all the power of the Ydallcao
“pera segumdo elle ficou desbaratado.” ^

As soon as he had thus settled himself the ambassa-
dor sent to inform the King of his arrival, and begged
that His Highness would grant him an audience and
despatch him without delay. The King replied that
he would see him,® but told him that he should not be
impatient since he himself had but now arrived, and
that he would give him leave to depart as soon as the
time had arrived. And with this the ambassador stayed
there a month without the King having sought to see
him, nor having asked to know why he had come : he
went every day to the palace, and leeing the way in
which the King acted towards him he determined to
speak no more but to wait till the King summoned him.
Still he never ceased to go every day to the palace and
to speak with the nobles. One day the King sent to
tell the ambassador that the following day was an auspi-

* This passagre appears to be corrupt, and I have been unable to groe*®
It its meaning- Senhor Loi)es, whoi* I have consulted, is equally at fimlt
fcbout it. * JEir^y a

CHRONICJLE OF FERNJO NUNIZ

351

Clous day, and that he wished to hear him and learn
wherefore he had come, and the ambassador made ready
as it behoved him to present himself before so great
a lord. As was fitting, considering his mission and the
request he had to make, he was accompanied by many
Moors whom the city contained, and had with him all
his people with their trumpets and drums as was cus-
tomary ; and so he went to the palace, where he was
received very honourably by the nobles and officers of
the household. They seated themselves inside the first
gate, awaiting there a message from the King giving
permission to enter where he was, and there was no
long delay before the command to admit him was given.
His obeisance to the King having been made according
to his mode and custom, the men of the council stand-
ing by the King’s side, he was bidden to announce the
terms of his embassy, the King being ready graciously
to listen ; and the ambassador, seeing that the Kingf so
commandtid, delivered himself of his message in manner
following, with the awed demeanour assumed by such
envoys when they find themselves in presence of such
great kings-

CHAPTER XIV

Mow the Cttpfmn ac^uitied himself of his embassy before the King.

"Sire! the Ydallcao, my master, sends me to thee;
and by my mouth he begs thee that thou wouldest be
pleased to do justice. He bids me say that he bears
very good will towards thee* as towards the most true
and powerful prince in all the world, and one possessed
of most justice and truth ; that thou without reason hast/
broken the friendship and peace which thou hast had

^ oih to umm a ty diante do ty* The latter words may be an em-
phatic expression, akin to diamie do Deus e do todo o mundo^ ** In the face of
God and all the world/*

35 *

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

towards him, and not only so but a peace which was
made so many years ago and maintained by all the
kings so truthfully ; that he does not know why thou
hast left thy kingdom and made such war on him ;
that he was without suspicion when they brought him
the news how thou hadst besieged the city of Rachol,
and hadst robbed and destroyed the country round
about, which news caused him to move and come to
its rescue ; that then all the members of his court were
slain by thee, and his camp all plundered and destroyed,
thou thyself being good witness of what was done, and
that he begs thee to make amends therefor, and to send
back to him his artillery and tents, his horses and ele-
phants, with the rest that was taken from him, and also
to restore his city of Rachol ; that if thou wilt give him
the satisfaction for which he prays as to this property
and all other things thou wilt have him alw'ays for a
lojal friend ; but if not, thy action will be evil, even
thotrgh pleasing to thyself.” Thus he ended, without
saying more. The King said that he might retire and
repose, and that next day he would give him leave to
depart, and the King gave him a robe of silk and the
cloths that are customary.

CHAPTER XV

JBIow the JSTng sent to call the ambassador^ and of the answer
which he gave to him.

Next day the King sent to call the ambassador, and
after other things had been spoken of between ^ them,
the King said that he would be content to restore every-
thing to the Ydallcao according to his wish, and would
be picked at once to release SalabetacS-o, provided
the YdallcS-o would' come and kiss his foot. When the
^ Ani4 Mss be €$m ^0 siissJ^

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

353

ambassador heard the King’s answer he took leave of
him and went to his tent ; and he wrote to the Ydallcao
and told him what had passed, sending to him one of
the scribes that had come with him. And much time
had not passed when the Ydallcao sent him a reply,
saying : How could it be possible for him to meet the
King, seeing that he could not go to Bisnaga? and yet
that he was of full mind joyfully to do that which the
King wished. With this answer the ambassador went
to the King, and since the King would have set higher
value on the Ydallcao’s coming to kiss his feet than on
all that he had taken from him, he said to the ambas-
sador, “ Do thou cause the Ydallcao to come to the
confines of my kingdom, for I shall be soon there.”
Agree:ing to this, the ambassador departed, so as to
persuade the Ydallcao to come to the boundary. The
King on his part went forthwith to a city called Mudu-
gal * which is close to the boundary, and there he waited
until they told him that the Ydallcao was coming and
was already near at hand. Forthwith the King set out
to meet him, and entered the kingdom of Daquem, so
desirous was he to meet the Ydallcao; but the Ydallcao,
after all, dared not meet the King. And the King jour-
neyed so far, whilst they kept saying to him, “ Lo ! he
is here close at hand,” that he even went as far as
Bizapor,’" which is the best city in all the kingdom of
Daquem. It has numbers of beautiful houses built
according to our ov'n fashion, with many gardens and
bowers made of grape-vines, and pomegranates, and
oranges and lemons, and all other kinds of garden
produce.

Hither wefit the King, for it seemed well for him to
await the coming of the YdallcSo in so goodly a city ;
and he formed the determination that if he got him
here he would seize him or command him to be put

354

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

to death, to avengfethe affront that had been put upon
him ; and seeing that his enemy did not dare to come
he remained in the city several days. Then he turned
away because water failed him ; for since this city lies
in a plain and has no water save that which it receives
from rainfall into two lakes, of which there are two- large
ones, the Moors had opened these in order to drain
them, so that the King should not be able to stay in
their country. For this reason it behoved the King to
depart. But the city w’as left almost in ruins — not that
the King had commanded it to be destroyed, but that
his troops, in order to make fires for cooking, had torn
down so many houses that it was a great grief to see
— and this was occasioned by there being in the country
a dearth of firewood, which comes to them from a great
distance. The Ydallcao sent to ask the King what
wrong the houses of his captains had clone that he had
commanded to destroy them ; for there remained no
other houses standing save only the palaces of the
Ydallcao, the King himself being therein. The King
sent answer that it was not he who had done it, but
that he could not control his people.

When the King went to the town of IVIodogal the
Ydallcao returned to Bigapor, where, seeing the great
havoc that had been wrought in it, he took to himself
the blame for such damage having been dcne,^ saying
that if he had gone to the King such destruction would
not have taken place, and that at least he could do this
in future; he said that he had been badly advised since
for his own part he had been prepared to do it. Thus he
took counsel with his advisers, putting before them how
secure his position was if he had the friendship of the
King, that if allied to him he might be able to still
further increase (ttie greatness of) his State, and that

» Todo a cullpa de tall ser feyta par asy. Lit. “all on account of W*
having acted thus,”

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

35S

with the King’s favour he would be able to carry out all
his wishes. Concerning these things and others similar
to these he continued constantly speaking with his ad-
visers. Wherefore A9adacao the lord of Bilgao, he who
had fled with him in the battle, and who was a man
sagacious and cunning in such matters, addressed the
Ydallcao begging permission to go himself to the King,
and saying that he would remedy everything and would
cause everything to take place just as his lord wished ;
and the Ydallcfio listened to him readily.

Now A^adacao did not trouble himself to make this
journey because he desired to serve the Ydallcao, for
another wt.'ukl have done it well, but he did it with a vil-
lanous iT'Otive and from the ill-will he bore to Salebatacao
whom the King held in prison at Bisnaga ; and the reason
that he had this wicked motive was because Salebatacao
knew that A^adficao was the man that had caused the
Ydalcao to flee, and that the cowardice of such an act
w'as enough to destroy an army. Salebatacao had spoken
angrily about this to all those who went to see him or
who w<ire sent to visit him, and he always said that he
did nr)t desire to be released from his captivity save for
one reason only, namely that he might ruin A9adacao
and war against him as against a mortal enemy. These
things were all known to A9adacao, and he knew that if
they released him it would come to pass as he had said,
and therefore he determiiu*d to prevent this by contriv-
ing his enemy’s death, as will be mentioned in its place.
It was for this reason that A9adacao asked to be sent as
ambassador to the King ; and this was done.

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

CHAPTER XVI

Hbw AfadacBo ivent as ambasscufor for his King and compassed
the death of SalladatecQo,

A^adacao, being despatched by the Ydalicao, accom-
panied by certain horsemen with some servants took
the road to the city of Mudogal where the King was, and
the Ydalicao went with him as far as the river. When
A9adaca.o had arrived, being allowed inside the city by
command of the King, he remained several days without
seeing the King until he was summoned by his oi:*der ;
then he was admitted and spoke with the King, giving
him, with the manner of one who in such negotiations is
both wise and bold, an excuse for the mistake which the
Ydalicao had committed. He knew how t<i speak to the
King so well that he removed all the King’s wrath and
fury against the Ydalicao, and he toki the King that the
principal cause why the Ydalicao did not meet him was
the conduct of Salebatacao whom he had captured, and
that this man had written tt> the Ydalicao telling Ix’m
not to do so, and giving for reason that the King desired
to slay him. By these and other similar sayings he
sought to set the King’s mind against Salebatacao, even
to the death, and the King, seeing what A^adacSo
wanted, and believing that a man of such g"eat fame
would not be guilty of saying anything that was not
perfectly true, angrily commanded that SalebatacSo, 'who
was then in Bisnaga, should be beheaded ; and this was
at once done as soon as the message arrived.

As soon as Aqadacao had accomplished this business
he thought himself unsafe, and at once asked leave of
the King, saying that he wished to go anc^ get the
Ydalicao to contC to the river, so that when His High-
ness arrived he might meet him there. But the King
told him not to be impatient but to amuse himself there

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

357

some days, and added that he wished to show him
some things, and that he had somewhat about which to
speak to him. A^adacao, however, being afraid that
his treason would be discovered, did not feel safe, and
behaved in such a manner that what he had done con-
cerning Salebatacao w^as found out ; wherefore the King
sent to sei/e him, but when they went to look for him
he was already gone. For he tied one night and betook
imself to the Ydalcao, telling him that the King had
>mmanded Salebatacao to be put to death, and that he
anttid to do the same to him, and so he had escaped ;
..id it .seeme<l to him that he (the Ydalcao) ought not to
trust the King, who after all was nothing but a black.
After he had spoken in this way he went to Bilgao,
where he strengthened his position, and when the
Ydallcao sent afterwards to summon him he never
obeyed, because he knew that the wickedness that he
had done had been found out.

CHAPTER XVII

How tht- Ring nu nt io the extremity of his territory to meet the
Ydalcho, and what he did on not finding him.

The King did not fail to go to the extremity of his
territory, and since he did not find the Ydalcao there,
nor his mother, as A<;adacao had told him, he at once
perceived that th‘> was due to trickery on the part of
Acadacao, and that he had done it all in order to com-
pa.ss the death of Salebatacao. Full of fury at this he
entered the kingdom t>f Datiuem and marched against
the city of Culbergura^ an<l <lestr<.>yed it and razed the
fortress *■0 the grountl, and the same with many other
places.

Thence iTe wanted to press forward, but his council-

^ Kulbarga, the ancient Bahmaiat capital*

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

lors did not agree to this, saying that water would fail
him by that road and that it did not seem to them that
those Moorish lords whom they counted as friends would
be otherwise than afraid that the King would take their
lands as he had taken those of the others, since they all
served one sovereign, and that for this reason these
lords would probably make friends with the Ydalc3.o,
and together they would come against the King ; and
altJhough there was no reason to be afraid of them, yet
the King must needs fear the want of water, of which
they had none. And the King agreed that this counsel
was good.

In this city of Calbergara, in the fortress belonging
to it, the King took three sons of the King of Daquem.
He made the eldest King of the kingdom of Daquem,
his father being dead, though the Ydallcao wanted to
make King one of his brothers-in-law, who was a bastard
son of jfhe King of Daquem, and had married one of the
Ydallcao’s sisters ; for this reason he had kept these
three brothers prisoners in that fortress. He whom he
thus made King was received by all the realm as such,
and obeyed by all the great lords, and even by the
Ydallcao owing to his fear of the King.* The other two
broti ers he took with him, and gave them each one an
allovtance, to each one every year fifty thousand gold
^ar-dctos ; and he holds them and treats them as princes
and great lords, as indeed they are. After the return of
the King to Bisnaga, which took place in the same year
in which he had left, nothing more passed between him
and the Ydalcao worthy of record, relating either to
peace or war.

CHAPTER XVIII

I£om this J^tng, during kis own lijetifne, raised to be dCing his son,
being of the age of six years.

After the King had made an end of this, and had
obtained so great a victory over his enemies, perceiv-
ing that he was already advanced in years, desiring to
rest in his old age and wishin|^ his son to become King
when he died, he determined to make him King during
his lifetime, the boy being six years old and the King not
knowing what would happen after his death. Where-
fore he abdicated his throne and all his power and name,
and gave it all to his son, and himself became his mini-
ster, and Salvatinica * who had held that office became
his counsellor, and he made one of the latter’s sons a
great lord among them. And so far did King Crisnarao
go that after he had given the kingdom to his son,
he himself did obeisance to him. With these changes
the King made great fe.stivals which lasted eight months,
during which time the son of the King fell sick of a
disease of which he died.

After his death Crisnarao learned that his son had
died by poison given him by the son of Sallvatinica, and
in his anger, being certain that this was so, he sent to
call Salvatinica and his son and Guandaja, brother of
Ssallvatinica, and many other captains relatives of Ssall-
vatinica, and maidc them a speech at the time of the
salaam, there being present many chiefs and principal
persons of the kingdom, and relations of Ssallvatinica ; he
addressed him thus : — “ I held thee always as my great
friend, and now for these forty years thou hast been
governor in this kingdom, which thou gavest me ; yet I
am under no obligation to thee for Lhat, because in doing
so thou didst act in a way contrary to thy duty. Thou

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

wert bound, since thy lord the King my brotlier coili-
manded so, to put out mine eyes ; yet thou didst not
carry out his will nor obey him, but instead thou didst
cheat him and the eyes of a goat were put out, where-
fore, since thou didst not fulfil his command, thou wert
a traitor, and thy sons with thee for whom I have done
so much. Now I have learnt that my sun died of
poison given to him by thee and thy sons, and for that
ye are all here made prisoners.” With these words he
arose and laid hands on them and .seized them, and in
doing so called for aid from many Portuguese who were
then in the country with horses, asking them to come
to his aid ; and after he had seized the men, father and
sons, they remained three years in prison. And he
made minister a son of Codemerade, the same who
had killed the son of King Narsymga in the city of
Penagundy in the garden by treachery, by command
of the King his father, as has already been told in this
history.^

And soon afterwards Danayque, son of Salvatinica,
escaped from prison and betook himself to a mountain
range in which dwelt nobody but robbers and highway-
men, and in this there was a fortress where dwelt a
captain, his relative, who received him and helpeti him
in all that he could, and from there he made such war
on the King Crisnarao that he was driver to send
against him much people, and as captain of tlie army

* (Above, p. 310 £) The original te>£t has ‘V yj'-' CiHfi’*

merade^'^ but I cannot identify the name with any ordin«iry Hindu name or
title ; and if “son of Codemerade” meant, as I suppose, the //a has been
omitted accidentally. If, however, there has been a confusion of syllables
and the original reading was dc then I would point to the

list given above of powerful nobles (p. 327) who commanded the forces of
the king in the great Rlchol campaign, one of whom was called
In the concluding paragraph of this chapter we have this new inimster^s
name given as “Ajaboissa,” and in the list ot provincial lords (p. 385 below)
as “ Ajaparcatimapa.” The latter name sounils more prol^able than the
former. The first half would be the fiamtiy name, the last, “Tiiwnappay
his own personal name*

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ 361

he sent his minister Ajaboissa, who invested the place
on all sides and took him therein and brought him
prisoner to the King. After he had so come the King
commanded him to be brought before him, with Sallvati-
nica his father and another brother of his who was kept
in the prison, and he sent them to the place of executions
and there had their eyes put out. for in this country
they do not put Brahmans to death but only inflict some
punishment so that they remain alive. So he put them
in prison again, and there Timadanayque died, and
Salvatinica his father remained in the prison with his
other son Gamdarja.^

CHAPTER XIX

the Yda^iici^o came against A*acho/, and did not dare
to azi/ait the ICing^ and Jled.

At this time the Ydallcao collected his army and
formed afresh his forces of cavalry and elephants, and
marched upon Rachol which rem^iined under the king
of Bisnaga. Hearing this news, Crisnarao, without even
telling any one, ordered to saddle a horse, and he rode
at full speed in the direction of Rachol where already
the Ydallcao was ; but as soon as his enemy was aware
of the coming <jf the King he fled. On the road King
Crisnarao bought six hundred horses from the Portu-
guese at the rate of 4I for 1000 pardaos."^ And from
Rachol he .sent a message to the Ydallcao saying that

* In the passage earlier in this chapter SAluva Timma is said to have
had a brother “ Guandaja.” Putting the two together, it would seem that
his brother and ran both bore the same name, probably Ganda Kdjah.
Paes refers to the brother as being in his day governor of the capital
(above, p. 284J. He calls him “ Gamdarftjo.” See also p. 327% note 2.

* Cymeo menos AuB quoar/o por mil pardaos, or nineteen for four thousand
pardaos. The <-hronicler was a trader in horses at Vtjayanagar. Later on
he mentions the usual price as twelve or fifteen horses for a thousand pardaos

(beluwy p* 381).

362 A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

he haxi already twice broken his oath and his word,
and that as he had not fulfilled the promise he had made
he would make war on him in such fashion as that by
force he should become his vassal, and that he would
not let him alone till he had taken from him Billgaod

As the winter had now begun the King could not
then go forward, and so he went to Bisnaga to make
ready for this war ; and he commanded to prepare a large
force of artillery, and sent an ambassador to Qoa to ask
for the help of the Governor. He promised him that
after talking Billgao he would give him the mainland ;
for this city of Billgao is fifteen leagues from Gon, and
its captain is lord of the mainland of Goa. Goa is the
frontier or boundary of his city of Billgao, and there is
one of his captains at a fortress called Pomda which
is three leagues from Goa by the miiinla nd, who also
receives the revenues and has command over several
villages ; and in like manner these aird others have
captains appointed by the Ydalcao, who is lord of the
whole land.‘^

While Crisnarao was thus making ready he presently
fell sick of the same illness of which all his ancestors had
died, with pains in the groin, of which die all the kings
of Bisnaga.

Now this King Crisnarao, when he was young and
growing up in this city of Bisnaga, had an intrigue with
a courtezan for whom he had much affection, and who
was called Chinadevidy, and for the great love he bore
her he promised many times that if ever he became King
he would marry her ; and though he said this in jest, it
afterwards became true, so the history records. For
when raised to the throne and taken away from the
things he had done w'hen a young man, he still did not
forget the aflfectic/n he felt for this woman, but used

^ Beliriium.

» The captain of Pondd. was Ankus Khda (above, p. 335, notes I, a)-

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

363

secretly to leave his palace and go to her house. And
this was discovered one night by his minister Sallvatinica,
who watched him until he had got into the woman's
house, and he rebuked him much for it and brought
him back to the palace. Then the King told him
how well he loved her, and that he had promised to
marry this woman and was determined to do so in any
case ; and the minister, seeing how he was bent on it,
gave way to his wish, saying that he would accomplish
it in such a way that His Highness would not be blamed
foi it. In order to do this he sought for him a very
beautiful woman of the family of the kings of Narsymga,
and after he had married him to her, at the end of the
wedding ceremonies, he put this woman and the other
in a house, to which he had added a tower very lofty
and large, and in which he lodged her. Afterwards the
King married many other wives, for these kings hold it
as a very honourable thing to have many wives ; and
this King Crisnarao married four, and yet he loved this
one better than any of the others. This King built a
city in honour of this woman, for the love he bore her,
and called its name Nagallapor and surrounded it with
a new wall which is one of the best works that he has
in his kingdom, and he made in it a street very long and
large with houses all of masonry. In order to people
this town he ordered all the chiefs of his kingdom to
build themselves palaces therein, and so they did. This
town has one principal street, of length four thousand
and seven hundred paces ^ and of breadth forty, which is
certainly the most beautiful street it is possible to see ;
and he made and finished this town without stinting any
expense on it. It now yields forty-two thousand pardaos
of duties for things which enter into it, the duties in

About a mile and a quarter. NAgalapiir is the modem Hospett. If
the measurement is accurate, this street, leading, no doubt, towards the
car>"tal, is now non-existent.

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

this land being very great ; since nothing comes through
the gates that does not pay duty, even men and women,
as well as head-loads and all merchandise.

This King also made in his time a lake for water,
which lies between two very lofty ser-ras. But since
he had no means in the country for making it, nor any
one who could do it, he sent to Goa to ask the Governor
to send some Portuguese masons, and the Governor
sent him Joao della Ponte,^ a great worker in stone,

* The Della Pontes are more than once mentioned m the history of the
sixteenth century. They were probably an Italian family^ or in

prigiti, and engineers by profession, the Rialto at Venice having been con-
structed by Antonio della Ponte in 1588. This, however, may be a fanciful
connection. It is possible that both in Portugal and m Italy families may
have received that surname in consequence of their skill m bridge-building,
or of one of the family having in former days distinguished himself by the
construction of a particular bridge- The engineer mentioned in the text
is probably the individual who at the end of April 1520 was sent by the
king of Portugal to examine into the possibility of building a fortress nt
Tetuan in Morocco* Dom Pedro de Mascarenhas (afterwards, in 15549
Viceroy at Goa) sailed on this mission from Ceuta, and Nunes del

Pont^’ is mentioned as accompanying him. The king and the Kmperor
Charles V. were both at this time anxious to prevent the Moorish corsairs
from using Tetuan in future, as they had done in the past, as a base for
their piratical attacks on Spain and Portugal. (Damico de Goes, ChronUa

JDom Manuel^ edit, of Coimbra, 1790, voL i. Part IV. p. 532 ; Al^ns
docuj^tenios do Archt'vo Nacional da Torre do Tbm^Of Lisbon, 1892, pp*
445-446.)

521, some time after the month of March, when Dom Diogo hopes
de Sequeira, the governor of Goa, had returned from his expedition to the
Red Sea, he was urged by his counsellors to build a fortress at MadrefaM.
near Goa, as the place contained an anchorage sulheient for an entire ^eet.
(Correa, Ze^dds da Indio^ ii, p, 622.) Correa continues: **The governor,
however, thought better to send in a coiia Antonio Correa and Fero de
Coimbra, his chief pilot, to inspect the river of Madrefabi and measure the
water on the bar, and Manuel da Ponte, Overseer of Works, and Joto de
la Ponte, his brother, who understood it well, to view the land, and if there
were stone, and if lime could be made for the work, and to bring him certitude
of

If this man were the same as he who went with Mascarenhas to Tetuan,
he had, in all probability, not been long in India when he went to Madre*
fabd. This seems to show that the great tank of Krishna Deva Riya, seen
in pmettss of construction by the chronicler Paes (see p. 244), ^nd mentioned
in the text by Nunez, was not begun till at least the autumn of 1521. If

Faes did not his description of Vijayanagar till after that date

(say 1522). (See above, p* t 6 z.}

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

365

to whom the King told how he wanted the tank built.
Xhough it seemed to this man (m-estr'e, modern ntaistty)
impossible to be made, nevertheless he told the King
he would do it and asked him to have lime prepared,
at which the King laughed much, for in his country
when they build a house they do not understand how
to use lime. The King commanded to throw down
quantities of stone and cast down many great rocks
into the valley, but everything fell to pieces, so that
all the work done in the day was destroyed each night,
and the King, amazed at this, sent to call his wise men
and sorcerers and asked them what they thought of
this thing. They told him that his idols were not
pleased with this work, it being so great and he giving
them nothing, and that unless he spilled there the blood
of men or women or buffaloes that work would never
be finished. So the King sent to bring hither all the
men who were his prisoners, and who deserved death,
and ordered them there to be beheaded ; and with this
the work advanced. He made a bank across the middle
of the valley so lofty and wide that it was a crossbow-
shot in breadth and length, and had large openings and
below it he put pipes by which the water escaped, and
when they wish so to do they close these. By means
of this water they made many improvements in the city,
and tnany channels by which they irrigated rice-fields
and gardens, and in order that they might improve their
lands he gave the people the lands which are irrigated
by this water free for nine years, until they had made
their improvements, so that the revenue already amounts
to 20,000 pardaos.

Above this tank is a very large ridge all enclosed,
and in the middle some very strong gates with two
towers, one on one side and one cn the other ; and

^ This probably means sluices or weirs.

^ nmm mfms

366 A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

within are always posted looo men on g^uard- For
through this gate all things must enter that come into
the two cities, since in order to enter the city <jf Bisnaga
there is no other road but this, all other rtjads meeting
there. This gate is rented out for 12,000 pardaos each
year, and no man can enter it without paying just
what the renters ask, country folk as well as strangers.
In both these cities there is no provisitjn or merchan-
dise whatever/ for all comes from outsid<* on ]>ack-o.Ken,
since in this country they alway^s use beasts ff>r burdens
and every day there enter by these gates 2 <")oo oxen,
and every one of these pays three z’iHtccsi'' cer-

tain polled oxen w'ithout horns, which never pay an\
thing in any part of the reaim.

Outside these two cities arc fields and places richly
cultivated with wheat and gram and rice and millet,
for this la.st is the grain which is most consumed in
the land ; and next to it betel {belT'e), which i.s a thing
that in the greater part of tlie country they a!way.s cat
and carry in the mouth.

CHAPTFR XX

IIt>w on the dmih of Crii/iarao his r Achetarao ,.'<»)•

raised to iie /iing.

Before^ the death of Kin|^ Crisnarao frean his ciisesase
as has been before recounted* heinjj sick and alo ady

1 /m nenhB manimtio nem adar%\ts*

The original (nself a cap/) has nesta terra nao se de iesfas

d^era I think that the words se ^uta must have lieen acf itientally

omitted before de iestas^ and have ventured so to render the passage.

^ About 3j<L (?), A 7datem is about

^ I have given ahe meaning here, not a literal translation. The writer
begins : “Aftei the death of King Cusnurao from his disease^ as has been
already recounted*’* Tlr^n he inserts a long parenthesis which might be
read: Whileihe was sick , * , he had ma<le a will . . , See. , . down to

. . , **but only one of the age of eighteen months**^ Then he continue •
‘ After his death (as I have said) Salvanay became minisier/* * * *

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ 367

despairing of his life, he made a will, saying that of
his three brothers whom, at the time when they raised
him to be King, he had sent to be confined in the
fortress of Chamdegary' with his nephew, son of the
King Busbalrao,^ they should make King his brother
Achetarao ® who now reigns ; for the latter seemed to
him to be better fitted for that than any of the others,
for the reason that he himself had no son of fit age
for the throne, but only one of the age of eighteen
months. After his death Salvanay became minister
of the kingdom, and governed it till the coming of
King Achitarao from the fortress of Chamdegar^
where he was detained. And he further left in his
will that he should take Billgao,"* and should make war
on the YdallcSo.

Which King Chytarao, after he ascended the throne,
gave himself over to vice and tyranny. He is a man
of very little honesty, and on account of this the people
and the captains are much discontented with his evil
life and inclinations ; for he has never done anything
except those things that are desired by his two brothers-
in-law,* who are men very evilly disposed and great
Jews. By reason of this the Ydalcao, learning of how
little weight he was, determined to make war on him,
believing that he would easily succeed since the King
was not inclined to war ; so he made his forces ready,
and began to invade the King’s territory, and arrived
within a league of the city of Bisnaga. Chetarao was
in the city with such great forces and power that he
could easily have captured him if his heart had allowed
him to take action, since the YdallcSo had with him

‘ Chandragiri. ® Sec above, p. 315.

* Achyuta * IJelgaiim.

* The»e two may perhaps be two of the three powerful brothers R&ma,
Tirmnala, and X'enkatAdri, of whom the two first married tw daughters of
Krisbina Deva- In such case, however, they would not have been actually
brothers-in-law of King Achyuta, but of bis brother the late king.

Jl FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

only 12,000 foot and 30,000 horse; yet with this small
force the Ydallcao entered Nagallapor a league from
Bisnaga and razed it to the ground. The King never
tried to go out against him, nor had he the stomach
for a fight, and there were only small skirmishes by
some captains, good horsemen. These spoke to the
King, asking that His Highness would give them le.'ve
to attack, and saying that his own presence was unneces-
sary for so slight an affair ; but the King vv<is u^rrilied.
and by the advice of his brothers-in-law (of which they
gave not a little) decided to send and m.ike peace with
the Ydallcao. The Ydallcao was vt;ry gla<I and made
a peace with him which was to last for a hundred y<-,irs,
on condition that the King should give him ten iakhs
of gold pardaos, each lakh being 100,000 pardaos,
and further should yield up to him the <.ity of Rachr)!
which the King Crisnarao had taken from him, and
which had a revenue vs.th its lands of 15^^,000 pardaos,
as w'ell as jewels which could easily he valut-d at a lakh.
The King accepted these terms, an<l the Ydallcao de-
parted well pleased with this money ; and after all was
done the King sent to him diamcmei str>ne weighing
130 mangellims,^ with fifteen cither similar fines wfirth
fully a lakh. This money he soon afterwards recovered
and put in his treasury, <:x;icting payments from his
captains and people so ruthlessly that they say that in
six months he ha<I recovered anef put the whole in his
treasury.

Wherefore the captains and troops, bfith Ixtcaustj
he made this peace and because he exa< led this sum
of money contrary to the wishes of them all, have
lived greatly discontented, and have held that if this
kingdom should ever be brought to destruction, it

A manj^elm rouji^hly equtvalent to a. carat, but ae tuaSly the diiTcrenre
IS one* fifth ; 4 luan^elins* 5 < arats* So that 130 i6as carats*

The nur-^ when brought to Ertg:land, weighed fH6 carats* (See

Appendix A->

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

369

must take place in the lifetime of King Chitarao j for
he had destroyed the principal people of his kingdom
and killed their sons and taken their goods, all owing
to the bad counsel of his brothers-in-law, by whom he
was dominated.

I will tell you of one who was called Crisnaranarque
whom he seized one night, and who, before he sur-
rendered himself, killed all his wives, in number two
hundred, and then killed himself with poison in pre-
sence of the King. This was because the King wanted
to kill hi.s son in his presence. By sale of the cap-
tain’s arms, namely daggers, swords, spears, battle-
axes and other things, w^hich were all ornamented
with gold and silver, the King realised more than 3000
paf'daos. In this way the kingdom has been deprived
of its principal men and of those who sustain it, where-
fore the Ydalcflo holds it in so little esteem that he
puts upon it every day a thousand affronts and requisi-
tions. Of this King there is nothing more so far to
reccjunt, save that he is a man that they hold to be
of little force of character, and very negligent of the
things which most concern the welfare of his kingdom
and State.

CHAPTER XXI

0/ ihe manner of attendanee on these AingSf tuhick is as folioms.

[Wfiat follows concerns the reign of Achyuta Ra.ya.]

All the service of this house, with the things which
they rnake use of, is of silver and gold, that is to
say basins and bowls, stools, ewers, and other vessels
of that sort. The bedsteads ^ in which his wives
sleep are covered and adorned with silver plates.
Every wife has her bed in which she sHeps, and

* The word used is catre^ a light bedstead, probably the origin of the
modem South Indian word “cot,” for a camp bedstead.

2 A

370

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

that of the King is plated and lined and has all its
legs of gold, its mattress of silk, and its round bolster
worked round the ends with large seed pearls. It
has four pillows of the same pattern for the feet, and
has no other sheet than a silk cloth on top. He
always carries with him a mosquito curtain with a
frame of silver,^ and he has a house made of pieces
of iron in which is contained a very large bed, which
is intended for such time as he takes the field.

He has five hundred wives and as many less
or more as he wants, with whom he sleeps ; and all
of these burn themselves at his death. When he
journeys to any place he takes twenty-five or thirty
of his most favourite wives, who go with him, each
one in her palanqueen with poles. Xhe palanqueen
of the principal wife is all cov'ered with scarlet cloth
tasselled with large and heavy work in seed-pearjs
and pearls, and the pole itself is ornamented with
gold. The palanqueens of the other wives are orna-
mented only with silver, but another palanqueen, which
is for his own person, always goe.s on the right side, and
is in the same way decorated with gold. For a son
or a daughter, if such an one goes with him, he takes
another bedstead of ivory inlaid with gold ; and when
he takes the field, wherever he pitches his camp there
they make for him houses of stone and clay, for he does
not stay in a tent, and he always has these decorated
with cloths.®

^ Arguetha de prata. Arquelha is a mosquito-net. Since manifestly

the net its«lf could not be made of silver, the allusion is probably to its sup-
ports. Senhor Lopes, in a letter to me, suggests that it means the upper
portion of the canopy, du or the framev^ork that holds the cur-
tains, arquelhm being a diminutive of a or **arch**^ In this

case it might mean the domed ceiling of a canopy mad© in Muhammadan
fashion, and the curtai*is may have been of silk or brocade, and not of
mosquito-netting.

® The word used is armadas^ it may mean furnished ** or ** hung round
with cloths,^ or possibly fenced" or ** fortified."

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

371

In his palace within the gates he is served by
women and eunuchs and servants numbering fully

five or six hundred ; and these wives of the Kins:

<!>

all h ave their own officials for their service, each for
herself, just as the King has within the gates, but
these are all women. The palaces of the King are
large and with large rooms; they have cloisters like
monasteries, with cells, and in each one is one of his
wives, and with each of these ladies is her maid-ser-
vant ; and when the King retires to rest he passes
through these cloisters, and his wives stand at the
doors and call him in ; but these are not the principal
wives, they are the daughters of captains and nobles
of the country. Insidt-; the gates of the palace they
say that there are over two hundred milch-cows, from
the milk of which they make butter for these ladies
to eat.

The King has no expense in connection with
his food, because the nobles send it to him every
day to his house, mimely rice and wheat and meat
and fowls with all other necessary things. In the
kitchen there are some two hundred inferior guards,
and four over it, and two chief officers <5f the guard ;
and those who are now captains of the guard of
this king are called, one Pedanayque and the other
Ajanaique, they are als<i captains of soldiers ; these
porters do not go further inside than through four
or five doors, because inside of these are none but
eunuchs and women.

When the King rides out there go with him usually
two hundred horsemen of his guard whom he pays,
and a hundred elephants, and this in addition to the
captains, forty or fifty in number, who are always in
attendance with their soldiers, H i takes with him
two thousand men with shields, all men of good posi-
tion, ranged in order on the flanks, and in front goes

372

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

the chief aleaid with about thirty horsemen having
canes in their hands like porters ; the chief aleaid
bears a different wand ,* he who is now the chief
aleaid of this King is called Chinapanaique. Behind
with the rearguard goes the Master of the Horse with
two hundred horsemen, and behind the cavalry go a
hundred elephants, and on their backs ride men of
high estate- He has in front of him twelve destriers,
saddled, and in front of these horses go five elephants,
specially for the King's person, and in front of these
elephants go about five-and- twenty horsemen with
banners in their hands, and with drums and trumpets
and other music playing so loudly that you can hear
nothing. Before these goes a great drum carried by
men at the sides, and they go now and then striking
it ; the sound of this is heard a long distance off ; and
^is drum they call picka. After the King has mounted
he •<:ounts the two hundred horsemen and the hundred
elephants and the shield-bearers of the guard, and
whoever is missing is severely punished and his property
confiscated.

CHAPTER XXII

If tk€ manner in mAuh obeisanee is done to the King^

The manner of the salaam which the noblus make to
the King every day is this : — In the morning the nobles
go to the palace at ten or eleven o’''lock, at which hour
the King comes out from within where his wives are, and
after he has taken his seat they open to the nobles, and
each one comes by himself and bows his head and raises
his hands. This is what they call the “ salaam ” {sal«md).
With the king are about ten or twelve men who have
the duty, on the untrance of each captain, of saying to
the King ; “ See, your Highness, your captain so-and-so,
who makes salaam to you.”

CHROmCLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

373

The Kings of Bisnaga have always liked, for show, to
have many horses in their stables, and they always had
eight or nine hundred horses and four or five hundred
elephants, on account of which, and on account of the
people that looked after them, they were put to great
expense ; and this King that now is ( Achyuta R4ya) has
in his stable seven hundred and odd horses and four
hundred elephants. He spends on account of them and
for their attendants, to whom he gives food, two thousand
gold pardaos per day. And of horsemen whom the King
pays he has six thousand, and all of them are on the
stables establishment (?) {comem da estrebaryd ) ; and those
who serve them are paid each year, some a thousand
pardacfs^ some five hundred, some three hundred, and
those who have less pay receive not less than a hundred.
Of these six thousand, two hundred are obliged to ride
with the King.

The kings of this country are able to assemble as
many soldiers as they want, as they have them there in
their kingdom and have much wealth wherewith to pay
them. This King Chitarao has foot-soldiers paid by his
nobles, and they are obliged to maintain six ^ lakhs of
soldiers, that is six hundred thousand men, and twenty-four
thousand horse, which the same nobles are obliged to have.
These nobles are like renters who hold all the land from
the King, and besides keeping all these people they have
to pay their cost ; they also pay to him every year sixty
lakhs of rents as rcyal dues. The lands, they say, yield
a hundred and twenty lakhs of which they must pay
sixty to the King, and the rest they retain for the pay of
the soldiers and the expenses of the elephants which
they are obliged to maintain. For this reason the com-
mon people suffer much hardship, those who hold the
lands being so tyrannical. Of these sixty lakhs that the
king has of revenue every year he does not enjoy a
* Sms must be a misprint for

374

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

larger sum than twenty-five lakhs., for the rest is spent
on his horses, and elephants, and foot - sf>ldiers, and
cavalry, whose cost he defrays.

During his feasts and the almsgiving t<j his temples
all these captains, who are thus like renters, must always
attend the court, and of those whom this King always
has about him and by whom he is accompanied in his
court there are more than two hundred These are
obliged always to be present with the King, and must
always maintain the full number of soldiers ficcording to
their obligations, for if he finds that they have a less
number they are severely punished and their estates
confiscated. These nobles arc never suffrjred to settle
themselves in cities or towns because they would there
be beyond reach of his hand ; they only go thithfir some-
times. But a concession is granted to the kings that are
subject to him, namely they do not go to court unless
they are summoned, and frcjm their own cities they send
to him their rents or tributres ; yet the King of B<-ngapor
is obliged to be always in camp, and he goes to court
twice in the year.

The kings who are subject are these, besides this
King of Bengapor, namely the King of Gasopa and the
King of Bacanor and the King of Calecu and he of
Batecala,^ and these when they come to the Court of
Bisnaga are not held in higher esteem than any other
captains, either by the King or by the other nobles.

The captains and k^rds of this kingdom of Bisnaga,
as well thrjise who are at Court as those who are away
from it, have each one his secretary who goes to the
palace in order to write to him and let him know what
the King is doing ; and they manage so that nothing
takes place of which they do not srxjn know, and day
and night they arc always in the palace. And the King
also, when he leaves the palace, takes with him on his
* Above, pp. 121, aSi, and notes.

CHROXICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

375

own account secretaries, who write what the King' says,
and the favours he l)estows, and with whom he spoke,
and upon what subject, and what his determination was ;
and to these men is given a credit equal to that of the
Evangelists, because they say that whenever the King
speaks there must be something worthy to be recorded,
and also that such a recoid is necessary for their remem-
brance. Thus no written order^s are ever issued, nor any
charters granted, for the favours he bestows or the com-
mands he gives ; but when he conha-s a favour on any
one it remains written in the registers of these secretaries.
The King however gives to the recipient of the favour a
seal imjiressed in wax from one of his rings, which his
minister keeps, and these seals serve for letters patent.

These Kings of Bisnaga eat all sorts of things, but
not the llesh of oxen or cows, which they never kill in all
the country of the he*athcn because they worship them.
They eat mutton, pork, venison, partridges, hares, doves,
quail, iind ah kinds of birds ; even sparrows, and rats, and
cats, and lizards, all of which are sold in the market of
the city of liisnaga.

Everything has to be sold alive so that each one
may know what he buys — this ^ at least so far as con-
cerns game — and there are fish from the rivers in large
quantities. The markets are always overflowing with
abundance of fruits, gnipes, oranges, limes, pomegranates,
jack-fruit, and mangt>cs, and all very cheap. It is said
that in the markets they give twelve live sheep for a
pardao, and in the hills they give fourteen or fifteen for
^pardao. The King drinks water which they bring from
a spring, which is kept tmclosed under the hand of a
man in whem the King has great confidence; and the
vessels in which they draw the water come covered and
sealed. I'hus they deliver It to the women who wait on

* K ysio As caanto tt At the present day in Southern India game-

fire sold aJive, generally wuh the eyes sewn up*

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

376

him, and they take it inside to the other women, the
King’s wives.

The greatest mark of honour tiiat this King of
Bisnaga confers on a noble consists of two fans orna-
mented with gold and precious stones, made of the
white tails of certain cows ; ^ he gives them bracelets
also. Everything which the noble receives is placed on
the ground. The King confers very high honour, too, if
he permits a certain one to kiss his feet, for he never
gives his hands to be kissed by any one. When he
wishes to please his captains, or persons from whom he
has received or wishes to receive good service, he gives
them scarves of honour '^ for their personal use, which
is a great honour ; and this he does each year to the
captains at the time that they pay him their land-rents.
This takes place in the month of September * when for
nine days they make great feasts. Some say that they
do this in honour of the nine months during which Our
Lady bore her Son in the womb ; others say that it is
only done because at this time the captains come to pay
their rents to the King- Which feasts are conducted .in
the following manner.

The first day they put nine castles in a piece of
ground which is in front of the palace, which castles
are made by the nine principal captains in the kingdom.
They are very lofty and are hung with rich cloths, and
in them are many dancing-girls and also many kinds of
contrivances. Besides these nine every captain is obliged
to make each one his castle, and they come to show

1 This evidently refers to the yak-tail whisks used in the service of idols
in the temples and in the palaces of nobles. On occasions of ceremony at
the present day any chief or noble who has a pretension to sovereigr^tty, or
who claims descent from a line of independent lords^ proclaims his dignity
by the use of certain insignia, and amongst these the yak-tall far finds place.
It is one of the most graci^lul of ornaments. The mit white hair is set In
a metal ha^le of brass or silver and wavc^ slowly by an attendant. Its
material object was to keep away dies*

® Pachari for pichhmuri*

• Aboret pw

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

377

these to the King-. Each one has his separate device,
and they all come like this during the nine days of the
feast. T. he officers of the city are bound to come with
their devices each day at night, just as in our festivals,
and in these nine days they slaughter animals and make
sacrifice. The first day they kill nine male buffaloes
and nine sheep and nine goats, and thence forw’ard they
kill each day more, always doubling the number ; and
when they have finished slaying these beasts, there come
nine horses and nine elephants of the Kinu, and these
come before the king covered with flowei s — roses — and
with rich trappings. Before them goes the chief IVI aster
of the Horse with many attendants, and they make salaam
to the King. And when these have finished making their
salaam there come from w'ithin priests, and they bring
rice and other cooked edibles, and water, and fire, and
ntany kinds of scents, and they offer prayers and throw
the water over the horses and elephants, just (as our
priests do with) holy water ; and they put chaplets of
roses on them. This is dono in the pre.sencc of the King,
who remains seated a throne of gcdd and precious
stones ; he never sits on this e.xcept only this once in
the year. And this King that now reigns does not sit
on it, for they say that whoever sits on it must be a
very truthful man, one who speaks the whole truth, and
this King never does .so. Whilst this is going on there
{>ass by the King fully a thousand w<Mnen. dancing and
posturing before him. After all the devices that have
been prepared have been witnessed all the liorses of
the King pus.s by, covered with their silken tnippings,^
and with much adornment of gold and preci<.>us stones

* ** Silken The ori>rinal wnu! is Later on (see

P- 3^3)^ d-'Sinbing the kmgS Nunu vwnte-», "Ln* sao

iknh the»e v^uuK leter i the same Canarcse woid,

%»tlk Lloth/* Baibo^a ami Ibntn ui»e it in thj funn
Correa and Peyton (in Purebas) a-^ paioUa. (Yule and BurncIFs

Glossary^ sxk Pat&Lu'} In Tchigu,

378 A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

on their heads, and then all the elephants and yokes of
oxen ^ in the middle of the arena ® in front of the palace.
After these have been seen there come thirty-six of the
most beautiful of the King’s wives covered with gold and
pearls, and much work of seed-pearls, and in the hands
of each a vessel of gold with a lamp of oil burning in
it ; and with these women come all the female servants
and the other wives of the King, with canes in their
hands tipped with gold and with torches burning ; and
these then retire inside with the King. These women
are so richly bedecked with gold and precious stones
that they are hardly able to move.

In this way during these nine days they are com-
pelled to search for all things which will give pleasure
to the King.

The King has a thousand wrestlers for these feasts
who wrestle before the King, but not in our manner, for
they strike and wound each other with two circlets with
points* which they carry in their hands to strike with,
atnd the one most wounded goes and takes his reward
in the shape of a silk cloth,* such as the King gives to
these wrestlers. They have a captain over them, and
they do not perform any other service in the kingdom.

And after these nine days are finished the Rao®
rides out and goes to hold a review of the troops of
his captains, and he goes a length of two leagues be-

1 yunias. The meaning' is doubtful^ but in all probability yokes oxen
are referred to. In the Canarese country these r often handsoniely deco-
rated and elothed when attached to travelling vehicles.

^ 7erretf£}.

® Radas de btcos 7 *hese may perhaps have been such as in

England were known as “ knuckledusters/^

^ A free translation. The ongmal runs, dt mantirn a qug fica de
kadxo d auira mm ^ fen da '*/ay^ ierm a he AUu It

seems curious that the vanquished should foe rewarded. c*

literally ** takes the cake /* For pachurim see above, p. 376, note 2.

* This is 'he only occasion on which the chronicler gives the king hit
hereditary title of RSya^ usually spelt Raa by the Portuguese. Mdym 1$ ^
same as JRdjm

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

379

tween the armed men. At the end he dismounts and
takes a bow in his hand and shoots three arrows,
namely one for the Ydallcao, and another for the King
of Cotamuloco,^ and yet another for the Portuguese ;
it was his custom to make war on the kingdom lying
in the direction where the arrow reached furthest. After
this is done the King returns home, and on that day he
fasts and with him all the jDeopIe of the land ; and on
the next day he goes to th^ river to bathe with all his
people. Within the.se nine days the King is paid all the
rents that he receives from his kingdom ; for, as already
saia, all the land belongs to the King, and frorh his hand
the cjiptains hold it. They make it over to the hus-
bandnK'U who pay nine-tenths to their lord ; and they
hav<; no land of their own, for the kingdom belongs
entirely to the King;® only the captains are put to
charges on account of the troops for whom the King
makes them responsible, and whom they are obliged to
pro^'ide in the way of service. Every Saturday the
dancing-girls are obliged to go to the palace to dance
and p(>sture before the King’s idol, which is in the in-
terior of his palace. The people of this country always
fast on Saturdays an<l do not eat all day nor even at
night, nor do they drink water, only they may chew a few
cloves to sweeten the breath. The King always gives
large sums in charity ; in the palace there are always
two or three thousand Brahmans who are his priests,
and to whom the King commands to give alms. These
Brahman priests are very despicable men ; they always
have much money, and are so insolent that even by

» The Qutb ShAh of (Joikr.nda.

^ Whether ^rue or not, this statement, coming as it does from a totally
external sonree, strongly supports the view often held that the ryots of
South India were grievously oppressed by the nobles when subject to Hindu
government. Other passages in both tliese cl ronicles, each of which was
written quite mdependently of the other, confirm the assertion here made as
to the mass of the people beinjg ground down and living in the greatest
poverty and distress.

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

380

using’ blows the guards of the door cannot hold them
in check.

The captains and principal people use ' at night
torches of oil, from lour to twelve torches (according
to rank), those of highest rank having tw'clve at most.
The King, however, must have a huntlred or a hundred
and fifty torches. There is much wax in the country,
but they do not know how to work it. Kvery merchant
who brings merchandise in h<irs« s and other things
which he may hav^e brought to sell to the Kiitg, if he
desires an audience, has to offer him a present of a
piece of gof>ds or a horse of thti best th^it he has
brought, in order that he may i>btain an audience and
transact his business. And this not only to the King.
You must perforce pay brtbe.s to .ill th<; several officers
with whom you have to tleal. 'riu'v will <.Io [n>th!ng
without some profit U> themscivtss.

When any one suffers wrong and wishes to rcpre.stmt
his case to the King he shows how great is his sufft*rtng
by lying flat on his face on the grouml till they ask him
what it is he wants. If, ptirchaacc, he wishes to sjie.xk
to the King while he is riding, he takes the shaft of a
spear and ties a branch to it and thus goes along call-
ing out. Then they make room for him, and he makes
his complaint to the King ; and it is thtire and then
settled without more ado, and the King orders a captain,
one of those who go with him, to do at once what the
supplicant ask.s. If he complains that he wa.s robbed
in such and such a province and ixt such and such a
road, the King sends immediately fiir the captain of that
province, even thougli he be at court, ami the captain
may be seized and his property taken if he d<.»es not
catch the thief. In the same way the chief bailiff*
•‘s obliged to give m account of the robberies in the

^ When passirig through the city^ probably.

CHRONICJLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ

381

capital, and in consequence very few thefts take place ;
and even if some are committed, you give some little
present and a description of the man who stole from
you, and they will soon know by the agency of the
wizards whether the thief be in the citv or not : for
there are very powerful wizards in this country. Thus
there are very few thieves in the land.

This King has continually fifty thousand paid soldiers,
amongst whom are six ^housand horsemen who belong
to the palace guard, to which six thousand belong the
two hundred who are obliged to ride with him. He has
also twenty thousand spearmen and shield-bearers, and
three thousand men to look after the elephants in the
stables ; be has sixteen hundred grooms ^ w'ho attend to
the horses, and has also three hundred horse trainers*
and two thousand artificers, namely blacksmiths, masons,
and carpenters, and w'ashermen who wash clothes.
These are the people he has and pays every day ; he
gives them their allowance at the gate of the palace.
To the six thousand horsemen the King gives horses
free and gives provision for them every month, and all
these horses are marked with the King’s mark ; when
they die they are obliged to take the piece of skin con-
taining the mark to Madanarque, the chief master of
the horse, so that he may give them another, and these
horses which he gives are mostly country-breds which
the King buys, twelve or fifteen for a thousand pardaos*
The King every year buys thirteen thousand horses of
Ormuz, and country-breds, of which he chooses the best
for his own stables, anti he gives the rest to his captains,
and gains much money by them ; because after taking
out the good Persian horses, he sells tho- which are
country-bred, and gives five for a thousand pardaos, and
they are obliged to pay him the me ney for them within

• Santis gmg ^nsyndo os cafvetUos,

* Above, p. 361, and note*

* JFmmmsrn

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

38a

the month of September ; and with the money so
obtained he pays for the Arabs that he buys of the
Portuguese, in such a way that his captains pay the
cost of the whole without anything going out of the
Treasury.

This King has also within his gates more than four
thousand women, all of whom live in the palace ; some
are dancing-girls, and others are bearers ^ who carry the
King’s wives on their shoulders, and the King also in.the
interior of the palace, for the king’s houses are large and
there are great intervals between one house and another.
He has also women who wrestle, and others who are
astrologers and soothsayers ; and he has women who
write all the accounts of expenses that are incurred
inside the gates, and others whose duty it is to write
all the affairs of the kingdom and compare their books
with those of the writers outside ; he has women also
for music, who play instruments and sing. Even the
wives of the King are well versed in music.

The King has other women besides. He has ten
cckoks for his personal service, and has others kept for
times when he gives banquets ; and these ten prepare
the food for no one save for the King alone. He has a
eunuch for guard at the gate of the kitchen, who never
allows any one to enter for fear of j^ison. When the
King wishes to eat, every person withdraws, and then
come some of the women whose duty it is and they
prepare the table for him ; they place for him a three-
footed stool, round, made of gold, and on it put the
messes. These are brought in large vessels of gold,
and the smaller messes in basins of gold, some of which
are adorned with precious stones. There is no cloth on
the table, but one is brought when the King has finished

» Rmf. Hin lu women of Oms Boyi xamm. The BojHb nan T«^teqgro*, and
are employed as beaiexs of palanqneens and otlk«r dooMHUtic sernc* in
Soutliera India* Mesic^ ilia ^ ^ a

CHRONICLE, OF FERNAO NUNJZ 383

eating, and he washes his hands and mouth. Women
and eunuchs serve him at table. The wives of the King
remain each in her own chamber and are waited on by
maid-servants. It is said that he has judges, as well as
bailiffs and watchmen who every night guard the palace,
and all these are women.

The King never puts on any garment more than onr^i,
and when he takes it off he at once delivers it to certain
officers who have charge of this duty, and they render
an account ; and these garments are never given to any
one. 'J'his is considered to show great state. His
clothe.s are silk cloths (^packdiis)^ of very fine material
and worked with gf>ld, which are worth each one ten
pa-rdaos ; and they wear at times bajuris of the same
sort, which are like shirts with a skirt ; and on the head
they wear caps of brocade which they call culaes,^ and
pne of these is worth some twenty cruzados. When he
lifts it from his head he never again puts it on.

The punishments that they inflict in this kingdom
are these : for a thief, whatever theft he commits, howso-
ever little it be, they forthwith cut off a foot and a hand,
and if his theft be a great one he is hanged with a hook
under his chin. If a man outrages a respectable woman
or a virgin he has the same punishment, and if he does
any other such violence his punishment is of a like kind.
Nobles who become traitors are sent to be impaled
alive on a wooden stake thrust through the belly, and
people of the lower orders, for whatever crime they
commit, he forthwith commands to cut off their heads
in the market-place, and the same for a murder unless
the death was the result of a duel. For great honour
is done to those who fight in a duel, and they give the
estate of the dead man to the survivor ; but no one
fights a duel without first asking leave of the minister,

^ Se« *lx)v% note to p. 377-

* Telufti, Impptyi. See pp. 210, 252, * 73 -

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

who forthwith grants it. These are the common kinds
of punishments, but they have others more fanciful ; for
when the King so desires, he commands a man to be
thrown to the elephants, and they tear him in pieces.
The people are so subject to him that if you told a man
on the part of the King that he must stand still in a
street holding a stone on his back all day till you
released him, he would do it.

The officers of the King who go about the kingdom
are these: — First the minister (re^edor) of the kingdom,
who is the second person in it, then the treasurer, with
the scribes of the King’s own lands, the chief treasurer,
and the commander of the palace guards {o porieiro
mcor'), the treasurer of the jewels, the chief master of
the horse. The King has no controller of the revenues
nor other officers, nor officers of his house, but t'>nly the
captains of his kingdom ; of whom I will here mention
some, and the revenues they hold, and of what territory
they are lords,

Firstly Salvanayque, the present minister ; he has
a revenue of a million and a hundred thousand gold
pardaos. He is lord of CharamSodel and of NagapatSo,
and Tamgor, and Bomga-rin, and Dapatao, and Truguel,
and Caullim, and all these are cities ; their territories are
all very large, and they border on Ceylon, Of this

^ Ds fazcmdm. I think that the meaning is as given. It will be observed
below that the kingdom was divided into provinces or estates, each one
entrusted to a noble who farmed the revenue to h'i own advantage, paying
a hxed sum every year to the king. In the case of Narvara, the treasurer
of the jewels, his estate is described as ** bordering on the country of
Bisnaga/ and as this expression cannot refer to the entire country ruled
by the king, it must be taken in a limited sense as applying to the
own personal lands — his home farm, so to speak. The system is well
known in India, where a prince holds what are called Kkds lands^ land*
held privately for his own personal use and benefit, as distinct hmn the
lands held under him by others^ the revenue of which last ought to go
to the public pii sc,

* Note that Madura is not mentioned in these lists* And yet it would
appear that a N%aldka, or subordinate chief of Vijayanagart had heeii

CHRONICLE OF FERNAO NUNIZ 385

money he is obliged to give a third to the King, and
two-thirds remain for him for the expenses of his
lascaris and horses, which he is obliged to maintain
for the King, viz. : thirty thousand foot and three thou-
sand horse and thirty elephants ; so that he only gets
the balance after deducting the expenses of this force.
But in this way he acquires much wealth because he
never maintains the whole force. And the King, when-
ever he wishes, takes away property of these nobles.

Another captain, Ajaparcatimapa,^ who was minister
of Crisnarao, has a revenue of eight hundred thousand
^ar-uaos of gold, and is lord of the city of Hudogary,“
and of the city of Condovim,® and of the city of

ruling at that place since 1499. Mr. Nelson, in his work, “The Madura
Country/* gives the following list of Naydkkas there : —

Narasa N^yakka
Tenna N^yakka
Narasa Filial (a Tamulian) -
Kuru Kura Timmappa HAyakka
Kattiyama Kteiayya N^yaika
Chinnappa Ndyakka
Ayyak^rai Veyyappa Ndyakka
VisvanAtha Nlyakka Ayyar .

A,D.

1499- 1500

1 500- 1515
1515-1519
1519-1524
1524-1526
1526-1530
1 530 -* 535
1535-1544

Four others are mentioned before we come to the great Visvanltha
NItyakka, who founded an hereditary dynasty, though himself only a deputy
of the crown- He ruled Madura from 1559 to 1563. Muttu Knshnappa
(1602-1609) seems to have been the first to assume royal titles at Madura,
His sonj^ Mul*u VSrappa (1609-1:623), is stated, in the narrative of the Portu-
guese writer Earradas {above, p. 230), to have paid a tribute in a.jd- 1616 to
the Vljmyanagar king at Chandragiri of 600,000 pagodas ; he had several
vassal kings under him, -^nd must have already obtained great power- It
is possible that, in the time of Nuniz, Madura was not one of the greater
provinces, but that it became so later.

The names Choromandel, Negapatam, and Tanjore are easy to distin-
guish in this list. ** Bomgarin ** I cannot identify, though the termination,
may reprtawnt gt'rt, “ mountain.” “ Dapatao ” may be Devipatnam.
**Tnigr«er' seems to have some affinity with Tiiukovil. It cannot be the
**Tmguel" "tentioned by Barros and others ss one of the fortresses graven
to Asada KhAn by the king of Vijayanagar (above, p. 175), because those
■were close to Belgaum, while this “Truguel” was in the extreme south.
** CauUim ” may be Kayal.

* Above, p. note t. • Udayagiri. * Kondavid.

2 B

Penagundim,^ and of Codegaral “ of Cidaota ” All these
large cities border on the kingdom of a, and some
of them with Cape Comorin {cabo de C<, ary). These
lands Crisnarao gave him when he made him minister
and put out the eyes of Salvatinica, his minister, who
was captain of them. He is obliged to serve with
twenty-five thousand* foot, fifteen hundred horse, and
forty elephants, and pays each year to the King three
hundred thousand pardaos.

Another captain, who is called Gapanayque, is lord of
these lands, namely of Rosyl,® and of Tipar, and of Ticalo,
and of Bigolom.® These lands march with the ten :tory
of the Ydallcao, and in all these there is much wheat
and grains and cattle and goats and gingely and cotton ;
and very fine cloth made of the last, fbr all the cloth
that is manufactured is made of it- He has a revenue
from these territories of six hundred thousand pardaos,
and is obliged to furnish two thousand five hundred
horse, and twenty thousand foot, and twenty elephants,
and he pays every year to the King a hundred and fifty
thousand pardaos.

Another captain called Lepapayque, who is lord of
Vimgapor,^ a land very rich in seed-plots and cattle-
breeding farms, has a revenue of three hundred thousand
pardaos; and is obliged to furnish twelve hundred horse
and twenty thousand foot and twenty-eight elephants,

^ Pennakonda* * (?) Kanigirt, Nellore district,

^ Siddhoiit or Siddhavattam, Cuddapali district, Codegaral mnjy repre-
sent Gandikota, the termination giri^ being substituted for

foit,” eg". Gandtgirz.

* The passage is incomplete, and I have rendered it m seems reasonable

It runs, e cimeo mill e guinhentas de JLooking at the

other lists of troops, it cannot be supposed that this chief had to provide
25,000 horse. It seems more probable that such a word as piOes was
accidentally omitted after ntill^ and that mill should have been repeated
before quinkentos

* Perhaps Racbol, near Goa.

* Bichohm (?>,

^ ^*Bengapor ” as elsewhere 4 ^. Bankipur, south of Dhirw^r.

CHRONICLE OR FERN AO NUNIZ 387

and he pa s to the King every year eighty thousand
pardaos.

The tres .urer of the jewels, who is called Narvara.
is captain of the new city which is called Ondegema/
and is lord of the city of Diguoty and of IDarguem
and of Entarem,^ and of the other lands bordering on
the lands of Bisnaga ; they are all fields. They yield
him every year four hundred thousand pardaos, of
which he gives the King two hundred thousand, and
the rest he spends on twelve thousand foot and six
hundred horse and twenty elephants.

Another captain called Chinapanayque, the King’s
marshal, is lord of the land of Calaly ® in the direction
of Cochim in the interior, and of many other lands
that yield him three hundred thousand pardaos ; and he
is obliged to pay the King every year one hundred
thousand pardaos, and serves with eight hundred horse
and ten thousand foot {prafos).

Crisnapanayque is lord of Aosel/ which is a large

* See the last sentence of the chronicle of Paes (above, p 290;^ where a
town **on the east” is called the new city which Krishna Dc\"a built in
honour of his favountc wife. The writer has evidently been confused in
that statement, for it seems clear that the town so founded was Nig:al 3 .pur,
the old namte for Hospett, with which it is distinctly identified m other
places. This town *‘'on the east” is said, in the sentence referred to, to
bear the name Ardegema,” and the locality is hard to determine ** East ”
of what ? If east of N%aL\pur be meant, then Ardegema or Ondegema
probauly represents village”) might have been a suburb of

that town. If east of the capital be intended, I cannot identify the place.
But these places evidently were close to the capital, bordering on the crown
lands. This, I take it, the meaning of bordering on the lands {ierra)
of Bisnaga ”

^ These three places I cannot identify. ‘‘X>iguoty” may perhaps be
Duggavattt* In the Harpanhalh division of the Bellary distnct. Darguem ”
suggests ^^Droog” or ** Durgam.” The word is applied to a hill-fort, of
which there are many in the neighbourhood. One of the most important
was KdyadrCig, s<mth of Bellary. One of the gh.tt roads leading eastwards
from C»oa k called the **gate de Digui” m old maps,

^ Possibly Kalale m Mysore, a plate fifteen miles south uf that capital
It is mid to have been founde<l m 1504 by a noble who was connected wuh
the Vijayanagar royal lamtiy (Rice’s fiaretteer, ii 255J. -
^ Unidentified

388 A rORGOTTEN EMPIRE

city, and of other villages that I do not here mention
as they have veiy difficult names. These lands yield
him every year twenty thousand pat'daos of gold, and
he pays an annual revenue to the King of seven
thousand pa-f'daos, and serves with five hundred horse
and seven hundred foot (^prafos).

Also Bajapanarque, who is captain of the country of
Bodial,* which borders on Mamgalor* by the sea-coast.
He is lord too of Guiana.® In this country there is
much pepper and sugar-cane and cloth (of flax)* and
much rice ; but there is no wheat, nor other cloth, and it
is a land of w’ax. It yields him three hundred thouj^and
pat'daos a year, and he serves with eight hundred horse-
men and ten thousand foot and fifteen elephants. He
pays the King ten thousand pa-rdaos.

Mallpanarque, who was chief master of the horse to
King Crisnarao, is lord of the country of Avaly,* which is
in the interior of Calecu,* This land has much iron and
much cotton, rice, goats, sheep, cows and buffaloes. He
has a revenue of fifteen thousand pay^daos, and is obliged
to serve with four hundred horse and six thousand foot,
and pays the King every year five thousand pardaas.

Another captain, called Adapanayque, who is the
chief counsellor of the King, is lord of the country of
Gate,’^ whence come the diamonds, and of many other

* Perhaps Budehdl in Mysore, which like Kalale was founded by a
Vijayanagar officer, and contains several sixteenth-oenmry inscriptioot. It
is m the Chittaldrilg division, forty miles south of that place.

^ Mangalore, » U .identiHed.

^ Raupa. Linen cloth. The word is not used of cotton, and the next
sentence shows that cotton did not grow in that tract.

^ I hazard the suggestion that this may be a mistake of the copyist for
This place, now a village m the Kolar district of Mysore, was in
the fifteenth century an important place, a ruling family having been founded
here by the Morasu Wokkalu'^ or i^ven Farmers*^ (Rice, ** Mysore and
Coorg,” li. 20). The description applies to it tairly welL

® Caheut.

^ Either the ghi.ts," or perhaps Gutti (Gooty). The nch Vajra Karttr
diamond mines are about twenty miles south-west of Gooty, where are the
remains of a very hne hill-fbrtress.

CHRONICLE OF FERNJO NUNIZ 389

territories which yield him three hundred thousand
gold par-daost excluding the precious stones which form
a revenue by themselves. He pays to the King every
year forty thousand pardaos, with the condition that all
diamonds which exceed twenty tnangelitts^ in weight
shall be given to the King for his Xreasury. He serves
with eight thousand foot and eight hundred horse and
thirty elephants, and pays the King every year one
hundred thousand pat'daos.

Another Bajapanayque is captain of Mumdogfuel,®
which was a fortress of the Ydalcao, and was taken
from him by Crisnarao when he took Rachol,® which
was a boundary of it. This fortress of Mumdoguel
with C>ther territories yields him four hundred thousand
pardaoSt and he serves with a thousand cavalry and
ten thousand foot and fifty elephants, and pays the
King every year one hundred and fifty thousand
pardaos.

In this way the kingdom of Bisnaga is divided be-
tween more than two hundred captains who are all
heathen,* and according to the lands and revenues that
they have so the King settles for them the forces that
they are compelled to keep up, and how much revenue
they have to pay him every month during the first nine
days of the month of September. He never gives any
receipts to them, only, if they do not pay they are well
punished, and are ruined and their property taken away.
All the captains of this kingdom make use of litters and
palanqueens. These are like biers and men carry them
on their shoulders, but people are not allowed to make
use of litters unless they are cavaliers of the highest rank,
and the captains and principal persons use palanqueens.
There are always at the court where the King is twenty
thousand litters and palanqueens.

* See note abovt^ p. 368. * Mndkal, * Raichur,

« /.e, of tbe Hindu religion, not Muhammadans.

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

These matters concerning {i,e. the power and great-
ness of) the kingdom of Bisnaga, though it may seem
to you that I have exaggerated, yet the people of this
country assert them to have been even more notable ^ in
times past, and greater than they now are.

And in this kingdom of Bisnaga there is a class of
men, natives of the country, namely Brahmans, who the
most part of them never kill or eat any live thing, and
these are the best that there are amongst them. They
are honest men, given to merchandise, very acute and of
much talent, very good at accounts, lean men and well-
formed, but little fit for hard work. By these and by
the duties they undertake the kingdom is carried on.
They believe that there are Three Persons and only
One God, and they call the Persons of the Most Holy
Trinity “ "rricebemca.” There is another class who are
Canarese who have pagodas in which are (images of?)
monkeys, and cows, and buffaloes, and devils, to whom
they pay much honour, and these idols and monkeys
which they adore they say that in former times this land
belonged all to the monkeys, and that in those days they
could speak. They have books full of fine stories of
chivalry, and many foolish tales about their idols, such
as 'it is out of reason for men to believe. But because
of this, neither in the kingdom of Bisnaga nor in all the
land of the heathen are any monkeys killed, and there
are so many in this country that they cover the moun-
tains. There is another class of men called Telumgalle;*
when these die their wives are buried alive with them.

The King of Bisnaga is a Brahman ;* every day he
hears the preaching of a learned Brahman, who never
married nor ever touched a woman. He urges in his
preaching (obedience to) the commandments of God, that
is to say, that one rr jst not kill any living thing, nor take

^ EToveis in the original, probably for notemeis,

* Telugus. ' » This was owtainly not the case.

CHRONICLE OR RERNAO NUNIZ

39 ^

anything belonging to another, and as with these so with
the rest of the commandments. -These people have such
devotion to cows that they kiss them every day, some
they say even on the rump — a. thing I do not assert for
their honour— and with the droppings of these cows
they absolve themselves from their sins as if with
holy water- They have for a commandment to confess
their sins to the Brahman priests, but they do not do it,
except only those who are very religious {antiguos de
JDtos). They give in excuse that they feel a shame to
confess themselves to another man, and say that it is
sufficient to confess themselves alone after approaching
God, for he who does not do so does not acquire grace ;
thus they fulfil the command in one way or another.
But they do it so seldom (in reality) that they (may be
said to) neglect this command to confess.

This kingdom of Bisnaga is all heathen. The women
have the custom of burning themselves when their
husbands die, and hold it an honour to do so. When
therefore their husbands die they mourn with their rela-
tions and those of their husbands, but they hold that the
wife who weeps beyond measure has no desire to go in
search of her husband ; and the mourning finished their
relations speak to them, advising them to burn themselves
and not to dishonour their generation. After that, it is
said, they* place the dead man on a bed with a canopy of
branches and covered with flowers, and they put the
woman on the ba9k of a worthless horse, and she goes
after them with many jewels on her, and covered with
roses ; she carries a mirror in her hand and in the other
a branch of flowers, and (she goes accompanied by)
many kinds of music, and his relations (go with her)
with much pleasure. A man goes also playing on a
small drum, and he sings songs to her telling her that
she is going to join her husband, and she answers also
in singing that so she will do. As soon as she arrives

A FORGOTTEN EMFIRE

39 *

at the place where they are always burned she waits wdtSi
the musicians till her husband is burned, whose body
they place in a very large pit that has been made ready
for it, covered with much firewood- Before they light
the fire his mother or his nearest relative takes a vessel
of water on the head and a firebrand in the hand, and
goes three times round the pit, and at each round makes
a hole in the pot ; and when these three rounds are done
breaks the pot, which is small, and throws the torch into
the pit- Then they apply the fire, and when the body is
burned comes the wife with all the feasters and washes
her feet, and then a Brahman performs over her cer.ain
ceremonies according to their law ; and when he has
finished doing this, she draws off with her own hand all
the jewels that she wears, and divides them among her
female relatives, and if she has sons she commends them
to her most honoured relatives. When they have taken
off all she has on, even her good clothes, they put on her
some common yellow cloths, and her relatives take her
hand and she takes a branch in the other, and goes
singing and running to the pit where the fire is, and
then mounts on some steps which are made high up by
the pit. Before they do this they go three times round
the fire, and then she mounts the steps and holds in front
of her a mat that prevents her from seeing the fire.
They throw into the fire a cloth containing rice, and
another in which they carry betel leaves, and her comb
and mirror with which she adorned herself, saying that
all these are needed to adorn herself by her husband's
side. Finally she takes leave of all, and puts a pot of oil
on her head, and casts herself into the fire with such
courage that it is a thing of wonder j and as soon as she
throws herself in, the relatives are ready with firewood
and quickly cover her with it, and after this is done they
all raise loud lamentations. When a captain dies, how-
ever many wives he has they all bum themselves, and

CHRONICLE or FERNAO NUNIZ 393

when the King dies they do the same. This is the
custom throughout all the country of the heathen, except
with that caste of people called Telugas, amongst whom
the wives are buried alive with their husbands when
they die- These go with much pleasure to the pit, inside
of which are made two seats of earth, one for him and
one for her, and they place each one on his own seat
and cover them in little by little till they are covered up ;
and so the wife dies with the husband.

CHAPTER XXIII

Of the ceremonies practised at the death of JBrahmans,

When a Brahman is sick, before he dies, they send
to call the learned Brahmans who are his priests, so
that they should come to pray, and console the sick
man ; and they talk to him of the affairs of his soul,
and what he must do to save it, bidding him spend
money in alms. After this ceremony Is over they make
the Brahman priests shave the sick man’s head, and after
the shaving they bid them wash it, and after the wash-
ing it is their custom to bring into their houses a cow
with a calf, — there are very few Brahmans, however
poor they be, who do not have one to live in their
house, — which cow, when they have finished washing
the man’s head, they take a turban and tie it to its neck
and put the end of the turban into the hand of the sick
man, and he gives it and the calf in alms for his soul to
those priests who perform these ceremonies. On that
day he gives alms according to his position, and gives
to eat to some Brahmans who are invited and who come
there for the purpose. They believe that when th^e
ceremonies are made for the sick man, if he is to live
he is soon cured of his infirmity, and if i\ot that he
soon dies.

394

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

After the death of the sick man they have the
ground washed upon which he lay, and after the wash-
ing they take cow-dung and spread it over the ground,
and place the body on the top of this dung. They hold
that a sick man who dies on a cot, or on anything so-
ever except only on the ground, commits a mortal sin.
As soon as the body is laid on the ground th<‘y make
for it a bier covered with boughs of the fig-tree, and
before they place the body on the bier they wash it .well
with pure w^ater, and anoint it with sandal-wood (oil) ;
and they place by the body branches of sweet basil and
cover it with a new cloth, and so place it in the oier.
Then one of his relatives takes the bier on one side,
and they call three other Brahmans whosoever they may
be to aid them to lift it ; and so they ■ carry it to the
place where they are to bur... it, accompanied by many
Brahmans who go singing in front of the corpse. In
front of all goes his son, if he has one, or next younger
brother or nearest relative with fire in the hand for the
burning. As soon as they arrive at the place where
they have to burn the body, they scatter money according
to theiir ability, and then put the fire to it ; and they wait
there till the whole body is consumed, and then all go
and wash their bodies in a tank and afterwards return
each one to his bouse. The son or brother or relation
who put the fire is obliged to sleep on the ground where
the man died for nine nights, and after the lapse of nine
days from the death come the priests and learned men
and they command to shave the head of this man.
During these nine days, they feed the poor and they
give them the dead man's clothes, and they give the
cot with its bed in alms to the priests, with come money
in addition ; if he is a rich man they give gardens and
other things in alms to many Brahmans. When ten
days are finished, and the son has been shaved, he goes
to the place where they burned his father or his Iwotber,

CHRONICLE OR FERNAO VURIE

3 ^

and they perform many cei.v,»nonies over the ashes and
bones tliat remain unburned ; then they put them in a
small vessel and make a pit in the ground and bury
them in it, and keep them thus guarded and buried in
order (afterwards) to send the bones to be thrown into
a sacred river, which is distant from Goa over one
thousand leagues. Xhere is a very large temple there,
the object of many pilgrimages, and they hold that every
pilgrim who dies there is saved, and goes to Paradise,
and also every dead 'man whose bones are thrown into
that river. In spite of this they in reality take very few
people there. The heir or the father or son of the dead
man is obliged, from the day of the death, for eleven
days to give food to twenty-seven Brahmans, and until
twenty -one days to three others; until twelve vs
again he feeds seven Brahmans, and until twenty-se/en
days gives to eat to the three ; on the last day of tli#
month he gives food to three others, and thenceforwarta?
until one year is finished, he gives meals once a month
to three Brahmans. They do this in honour of the
Trinity for the soul of the deceased. When this year
is over he gives no more alms, except that each year,
on the day on which the death happened, he feeds six
Brahmans, — namely, three in honour of the Trinity, and
three for the persons of his father, grandfather, and
great - gratidfather ; who thus seemingly eat together.
Thus he obtains favour with God, and for these ex-
penses they beg alms of the Brahmans if they are poor.
These give him all help for it. Before they dine they
wash the feet of all six, and during the meal some
ceremonies are performed by Brahman priests who come
there for that purpose.

1 Th« Ganges.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

DIAMONDS

Mowever mucli it may at first sigrht appear that our chroniclers
have exag^g^erated in their description of the wealth of the Hindu
sovereign and his nobles, and of the wonderful display of jewels
made on days of high festival by the ladies of their households,
an i^ccount of which is given us by Paes, I for one see little
reason for doubt. Nunix distinctly states (p. 389) that the dia-
mond mines, in their day the richest in the world, were farxned
out on condition that all stones above twenty mangellins in

weight about twenty-five carats — ^were sent to the R^ya for his

personal use, and there must have been many of these. Rar-
radas (p. 226 above) states that, according to rumour, even after
the downfall of the empire the king at Chandragiri in 16x4. A.I>.
had no less than three large chests full of diamonds in his pos-
session ; and every traveller and chronicler has something to say
on the subject.

Xhe principal mines were on the north bank of the Krishna
river, and in the Kumool and Anantapur countries, notably at
Vajra KarOr. Grenerically these are known as ** the mines of
Gk^onda,^ and the phrase has passed into a proverb-

Dinschoten (ii. x 36) writes : They (diamonds) grow in the

countrie of Decam behinde Ballagate, by the towne of Bisxiagar,
wherein are two or three hillcs, from whence they are digged,
whereof the King of Bisnagar doth reape great profitte ; for he
catxseth them to be straightly watched, and hath farmed them
out with this condition, that all diamonds that are above twenty-
five Mangellyns in waight are for the King himselfe (every Man-
gellyn is foure graines in waight).

** There is yet another hill in the Countrie of DcMiram, which
is called Velha, that is the old Rocke, from whence come the
best diamonds and are sold for the greatest prices. . . . Some-
times they find Diamonds of one hundred and two hundred Bdan-
gdiyms and more, but very few/*

As regards the diamond as large as a hen*s egg,^ said to have

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

been found at the sack of Vijayanagar and presented to the Adil
ShAh (above, p. 308), Couto (Decada VIII. c. jcv.) says that it
was a jewel which the R&ya had affixed to the base of the plume
on his horse’s head-dress. Giarcia da Orta, who was in India in
1534, says that at Vijayanagar a diamond had been seen as laigre
as a small hen’s egg, and he even declares the weights of thtee
others to have been respectively 120, 148, and 250 tnan^ie/is,
equivalent to 150, 175, and 312^- carats (Tavernier, V. Ball, ii.
433 )-

I>r. Bali has gone carefully into the question of the diamonds
known as “ BAbar's,” * ** the Mogul’s,” ** Pitt’s,” ** the Koh-i-ftArt^
and others, and to his Appendix I. I beg to refer those interested
in the subject.

It is clear that this hen’s egg diamond could not be the same
as Sultan Bd.bar’s, because the former was taken at Vijayanagar
in A.1X 1565, whereas Sultan Bd.bar’s was received by his son
Hum^lyun at Agra in 1526, and could not have been, forty years
later, in the possession of the Hindu king of the south.^

Dr. Ball has shown that probably the KoE-i-nItr is identical
with the “Mogul’s diamond.” Was, then, this “hen’s egg” dia-
mond the same ? Probably not- If we had been told that the
“hen’s egg;" when found in the sack of Vijayanagar, had been
cut, the proof contra woiild be conclusive, since the Kohr-i^nUr
was certainly uncut in A.l>. 1656 or 1657. But there is no infor-
mation available on this point.

The “hen’s egg” was apparently taken by the Adil Sh&h to
B^phr in 1565, and it is not likely to have found its way, still
in an uncut state, into the possession of Mtr Jusnla in

The KoE^-nUr was found at KolMr on the river Krishnft,
probably in A.l>. 1656. Mir Junda farmed the mines at that tunc,
and presented it uncut to the emperor, Shdh Jaha.n. It is said to
have weighed 756 English carats (Ball, ii. 444). It was entrusted
to a Venetian named Hortensio Borgio, and was so damaged and
wasted in his hands that, when seen by Tavernier in Aurangzib’s
treasury in 1665, it weighed not more than 268]^ Engli^ carats.
In 1739 Nadir Sh&h sacked Delhi and carried the stone away
with him to Persia, conferring on it its present immortal name
the “ Mountain of Light.” On his murder in 174;; it passcsd into
the hands of his grandson, ShAh Rukh. Four yeara later ShAh
Rukh gave it to Ahmad SbAh DurAni of KAbul, and by him it

* Its Ustoiy is known horn A.n. 1304, when it wa« acqtnred by AUHad-

Dln Khilji horn tbe Rajah of Malwa.

APM>ENI> 1 X A

401

firsts bequeathed to his son XaimCtr. In 1 793 it passcui by descent
o his son Sh^h ZamSin, who was blinded and deposed by his
>rother Muhammad ; but he retained possession of the stone in his
>rison, and -in 1795 became the property of his brother Sultan
5 huja. In 1809, after Shuja became king* of Kabul, Elphin-
stone saw the diamond in his bracelet at PeshawUr. In x8i2,
Shuja, being dethroned by Muhammad, fled to I^ahore, where
ne was detained as a quasi-prisoner by Ranjit Singh, the ruler
>f the Panj^b. In 1813 an agreement was arrived at, and Shuja
surrendered the diamond to Ranjit Singh. Ranjit often wore the
atone, and it was constantly seen by Kurop>ean visitors to Inhere.
Dying in 1839, the was placed in the jewel-chamber

till the infant Dhulip Singji was acknowledged as Ranjtt's suc-
cessor. In 1849 it was handed over to Sir John Lawrence on
the annexation of the Panj^b, and by him was sent to England
to Her Majesty the Queen. In 1851 it was exhibited at the first
great Exhibition, and in 1852: it was re-cut by an Amsterdam
cutter, Voorsanger, in the employ of Messrs. Garrards. Xhe
weight is now carats.

* It would be interesting to trace the story of the ** hen's e^gfg "
diamond after its acquisition by the Bijapflr sultan, Ali Adil.

H. de Montfart, who travelled in India in 1^8, saw a very
large diamond in the possession of the Mogul emperor Jahdngfr
at Delhi,^ but this had been pierced. ** I have scene one with
the great as bigge as a Hen’s egge, and of that veiy

forme, which he caused expressly to bee pierced like a pearie to
weare it on his arme. ... It weigh teth 198 Mangelins.”

^ De Moatfart’s ** Survey of all the East Indies.” Translation, edition of

*615, p. 54-

APPENDIX B

THE WEALTH OF THE DAKHAN IN THE FOUR-
TEENTH CENTURY A-D.

When Malik KAfur, in the year 1510 A.D., during the reign of Aik-
ud-Dta Khilji of Delhi, carried out hia successful raids into the
Dakhan and to the Malabar coast, sacking all the Hindu tcmi^,
ravac^ the tcrritoiy of Maishr, and despoiling the count;/, he
is said to have returned to Delhi with an amount of treasure that
seems almost fabulous. Firishtadi writes: ^^They found in the
temples prodigious spoils, such as idols of gold adorned with
precious stones, and other rich effects consecrated to Hindu wor-
ship;” and Malik presented his sovereign with ^'312 elephants,
20,000 horses, 96,000 mdns of gold, several boxes of jew^ and
pearls, and other precious effects.”

When we come to estimate the amount of gold we are met
with a difficulty, as there are many vmietics of mdns in India,
the variation being as much as from 19 lbs. in Travanoore to
163} lbs. in Ahmadnagar. The Madras mdn weighs 25 lbs.,
the Bombay mdn 2$ lbs. Hawkins, writing in x6lo, gives 55
11 ml to the mdn,^ Middleton, in 1611, 33 Ihs.* Now Firishtah
had more to do with Ahmadnagar than any other part of India,
and if hia estimate was based on the mdn of that tract. Malik
Kkffir*s S)6,ooo mdns of gold would have amounted to the enor-
mous sum of 15,672,000 lbs. wdght It is hardfy' likdy that
fliiidbtah would have had in his mind the Travancore mdm^
Even if he was thinking of the Madras mdn, whidi is not Hkd^,
Us estknate of the weight of the gold carried off amounted to
2^400,000 lbs.

Whiether we accept these amounts or not, there can be no
manner of doubt that the richness of the tem|^bi was very great,
axMl the reason is easy to sec. The country had always been
sub|ecl to Hindu kings, and treasures had year by jrm aceunm-
The Bzahmins exacted gifts and payments from the people

* Purdisi, L siA

* Sw YulssiidBiifiiiffsZ>lcriaaaiy,j;v«**MaimA”

403

on all occasions. KinuT^ and chiefs, merchants and landowners,
vied with one another in presenting^ rich offerings to their fav-
ourite places of worship; and when it is remembered that this
practij» had been going on from time immemorial, it necid be no
matter for wonder that the man who first violently despoiled the
sacred buildings departed from the country laden with an almost
incredible amount of booty. Colonel Dow, in his translation of
the works of Firishtah (i. 307), computes the value of the gold
carried oflT by Malik Kdifur at a hundred millions sterling of our
money.

APPENDIX C

TABLES FOR REFERENCE

APPROXIMATE OATES OF REIGNS OF KINGS
OF VIJAYANAGAR

'The First Dynasty, ^ ^

HAitiHAKA 1 . * 33 ^ tc 3 : 34 :

Bxtkjkjl 1 1343 to f 37 <

{C^rtatn inscriptions imply ihai JCampa reigned from 1343 to 1355,
und thod his son Serngonut *was reigning in M’ay 1 356.)

Hauzhara II* • * 1379 to end of X399

end of 1399 to Nov,

BtTKlCA II.

Drva RAya I.

VtRA VIJAYA
I>kva RAya II.

(?) ,

MAI.X.IK ARj tJI^A

RAjas^khara
V mt>FAKSHA I<

(?) Fraw>ha I>eva RAya
RA jASt^KHARA
VlRt)pAKSHA II- .

RAjas^ikhara

FAe Second Dynasty.
Karasimka ....

NaRASA or VtRA Narasimha
Krisrtha rXEVA RAya .

Acmyota ....

SajdAsiva {et prisoner all his life}

1406

iSTov, 1406 to I4i»'«-j[3
1413-13 to 14x9
t 4 i 9 to 1444 (?)
(?) 1444 to 1449

14535 '- 53 »

146S-69
1470-71

X 476-77 (?)

t 479 -«o

14 ^ 3-34
i 4 S 6 -S 7 i

(?) X490 to (?)
(?) to t *;o9
1509 to 1530
153a to 1543
1543 to 1567

The Fhtrd Dynasfy,
RAma iPracticcUfy sot^ereign) ... *

XlRtTMAl^A (praciicaily sot^ereign)

^ (cuduaify hing} .... *

Rawtoa II . .

VnNTRATA I.

J543 to

to 1567

ifC 7 to 1575 (?)
3 tS 7 S to tfSd
I§m to X6t4

iFor the rmnedmder see the text^pp. 314, atd.)
4«4

GENEALOGY OF THE BAHMANl DYNASTY*

{According to Firisktak.)

xxrE lai).

APF^ENZ>IX C

LIST OF THE BAHMANl SULTANS OF
THE DAKHAN AT KULBARGA

I

iAcconUHg^ ta JPtrisktak.)

I. A.i.A-xjn>-i>tK BarmakI I-

а. MtrMAMicAX> X. .

5. Mt 7 jA£cii> •

4 . X>AOi>

5* MAH:Mtrz> .

б. GHiYAs-tyi>-i>lK

s

7. SB[AMS-tjrr>-i>lK .

5. Ftm<>z

9. Ah;mai> I.
inu AjUL-xm-i^tK II,

II.

la. KizAm

13. MtmAMMAI>

14. MARMto II. .

15. Aixmai> IX.

lA AxA*OT>-I>tK III.

17, WAX-t-UULAH .
iS. Kai^Imc XJuuAr

A-I>-

. Aufir. 3, 1347, to Feb. a, 135^
Feb. a, 135S, to April ai, 1375
April a I, 137 S» to Apxil 16, 1378
. April 16 to May ai, 137S
May ai, I 378 f to April ao, 1397
. April ao to June 14^ *397

. June 14 to FTov. 15, 1397

Nov, 15, 1397, to Sept. a4, i4aa
Sept. a49 i4aay to Feb. ay, 1435
Feb. ay, I 435 > to Feb. 13, 1458
Feb. 13, 1458, to Sept. 5, 1461
Sept. 5, 1461, to July 30, 1463
July 301, r4<^3» to March ax, 148a
March ai, 148a, to XlecL x8, 15x7
Oec:. 18, 1517# to (?) isai (?)a
. i 5 ai(?)[

(?) 15*1 to (?) 15^3 1
• (O >533 to about isasJ

s* ^

if

A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

OENEALOGY OF THE ADIL SHAHS
OF BijAPCR

I. MtJZAFFAR YXTStJF Ax^II*.

a. IsmMtl,

A doM^htitr’
{w. ^hntad SMh
SdJknuxnty,

Jht€xry^fm

MAi^tr*

4. IbrakIm.

(»«. Imd 4 i

SM^ qf JStiniir^^

5 . AlA.

Takicasf.

6 « iBRABtiM.

7. MtTKAMMAJD*

ISMJUX^

a Al-t.

X* YtJsur

a* IsjaAIx.

5 - MAi^i^y ' .
4. Ibrahim I.
5- Acjf I.
a iJBRAXitM II.
7 - MiywrAMiCAx>

a Ajur II.

SllUlJtl>AR

^ . • X 4 B 9 to Y 5 XO

, X $ 10 to Aogr. * 7 * 1 534

Aogr^ a7, IS34» to Foa X535

. rea>. 1535 to 1557
*557 t» Aprfl II, Z 5 S 0
, April II, 158 -iv to Z 45 a 6
. itfa 6 to 1656
- . . 1656 to 1659

. * 4^59 to i «06

AF^JPENJOIJC C

409

GENEALOGY OF THE NIZAM SHAHS
OF AHMADNAGAR

1. AXXMAX).
a. BxtrhAkt I,

JBy Mis ^mnfm j§.fntn€t*

JBy Mis wife Maryam^

3. HX 7 SSAXK. ABZ>XJ 1 . KHAl>AIt*

4 . MmtXAzJL

7 * BuRifAir !!•

ShAs Ai.t.

II. MurtazA.

ji4 s€mm

5. MIrAm. 6. lsMAtx«.

( 9^ Axkmax> Ibk ShAk TahIr
i (usurped the throne for a lew
months tn IS94~^S)-

8. iBRABLfM.

x<x BahAjdur.

A.X>.

X* Abmaxx
It: BurkAm I. .

3. HtTSSAlH
4* MurxazA .

5. MlJiAif
5 . IsmAIx.

7. BtmHiiJNr II.

Bm iBRAXifM

9. AMMAJD IBBT SbAH XAXXIR
lO. Ba1XAx>1J'R *

X490toX5o8
. 1508 to 1553

. 1553 to 156s

156s to 1587
. 1587 to 1588

. 1588 to 1590

1590 to April 18, 1595
April 18 to Aur. ^ XS9S
Aagr. 6. IS 95 » to 1596

. 1596101599

410 A FORGOTTEN EMPIRE

GENEALOGY

OF THE

QUTB SHAHS

OF

GOLKONDA

X.

QUlJ: QjDTB SbAh.

1 1
QWTB-tJD-DtN a. jAMSHtl>.

iUm 4 ltd iy

JamskLIy.

MAXX>A]t
{died nniJkmii
issus)*

Ti.-

SubhAh.

AbjditJ QApxr

{paisoMdd by
his /kiUhEr^

„ 1

A sim 4. MxXMJMMA

{disd be form

Ms jfiadssf^

1. QtTLl

2 . jAMSHto

3 . iBRARtM

4. MrXHAMMAD

m m 4^ m

# # • »

♦ * >p. *

A.D.

. . ist3 to f S 43

- I 543 totsso

. . issotoxsSx

. . X5S1 to x6xx

RtimixiM. .

6. AB<y Hasaw

* » V «

^ ^ t#

. i6tx «c. tiiT»
1679 tx» 1488

APPENDIX C

4ZX

PORTUGUESE VICEROYS AND
GOVERNORS OF GOA

(a.d. 1505 *7 1568.)

A.I>.

C>cj}< F»AifCisco JOK Almeida {Viceroy) .... 1505-1509

VFOKSO DE Albuquerque {Governor) 1509-1515.

LOPO Soares de Albergaria {Governor) . . . 1515-1518

DiOOO Lopes de Sequeira {Governor) 1518-1521

30 M Duarte de MENE^ES {Governor^ ..... 1521—1524

3 om Vasco da ^ama, Conde de Vidigueria {Viceroy) . 1524

:>OM Henrique de Menezes {Governor) .... 1525—1526

-OPO Vaz de Sampaio {Governor) 1526-1529

SrUKO DA CUNHA (<?<W4f«»<7r) 1529-I53S

[>OM Garcia DE Noronha 1538—1540

[>OM EstevXo da Gama {Governor) ..... 1540-1542

Rartim Apponso de SoxrsA {Governor) .... 1542-1545

[>OM JOAO DE Castro {Governor and Cc^tain~in-Cku^ . 1545—1547

» » {Vicerx^) 1547-1548

Saroa de SX {Governor^ 1548-1549

roRGE Cabral {Governor) 1549-1550

OOM APPO^SO DE NoroNHA ( 1550-1554

OOM PEDRO Mascarenhas {Viceroy) 1554-1555

‘‘RRHctsco Barreto (G^<«r»0r) 1555-1558

[>OX CORSTA 3 EfTINO BRAGAHZA (PltV2VV7> .... 155S-I56X

30 M Francisco Coutinhc^ Conde de Redonix> {Viceroy) 1561-1564

' 0*0 DE Mez>ON9A {Governor) 1564

>OI€ A 3 fTONiO DE Noronha {Viceroy) 1564-1568

[The *lk«re list i* cactracted fivan Mr. Danvor^s worlc,. “The Poxtnguese
in India’* (vol. it p. 4*7)* The author coatmoea the List to the